The Influence of Islamic Works Ethics and Subjective Norms on Unethical Behavior among Small and Medium Enterprise Owners in Malaysia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents of Islamic works ethics and peers influence towards unethical behavior among the small an d medium enterprise owner s in Malaysia. All variab les wer e measured using 7 - point Likert scale. Islamic works ethics , subjective norms, and unethical behavior are treated as exogenous variables. Questionnaires were distributed to 80 business owner s in small and medium enterprise owner s in Malaysia based o n a random sampling method. The data was analyzed using multiple linear regression in SPSS. The finding supports two significant direct effects in the model, thus supporting the hypothesis that the Islamic work ethics and subjective norms ( peer influence) have significant influence on the unethical behavior business owner s . The result is discussed in the perspective of small a nd medium enterprise owners in Malaysia.