Enhancing the companies’ directors integrity by abiding to the concept of virtue ethics

For the past few years, the Malaysian news has continuously reported on company directors facing serious allegations of corruption. Despite plethora of statutes, laws, and regulations (deontological rule) that exist in curbing corruption, corrupt dealings in business continue leading to integrity crises. Integrity of directors enhances the company’s reputation, viability, competitiveness and longevity by coordinating the company’s objectives with ethical business practices. Without integrity, a company will suffer significant losses in both businesses and profits. This research aims to examine the concept and philosophical approach of virtue ethics to complement the deontological rule where the concept of virtue ethics can enhance the directors’ conduct of integrity when they were executing their directorial duties and maintaining corporate governance, as well as analyse the concept of integrity crisis (precisely corruption). The research employs a socio-legal research method studying the concept and philosophical approach of virtue ethics and how it can help to eradicate corruption and simultaneously address the crisis of integrity and corporate crime. Legal analysis on the relevant statutory laws was the approach besides interviews with an open-ended questionnaire to a sample of purposive informants. Through systematic content analysis, this research highlights that integrity is universally a dedication and adherence to the directors’ commitment within their power in good faith and to the best interest of the company. This research also finds that directors are integritous if they fulfil the following four principles of integrity, i.e. making business decisions for proper purposes and in good faith, having no material, personal interest in the decision-making process, being adequately informed before the decision-making process and that the decision-making process is in the company's best interest. Additionally, directors inhibiting virtue ethics would have a higher probability of integrity and business ethics than other directors. This research concludes that directors with virtue ethics are proven to positively influence the companies’ work performance, job satisfaction and employee engagement.