Abstract:
There has been an increasingly serious concern in ethics and integrity in the workplace due to the increasingly complex work environment. Librarians and information professionals, because of the complex body of knowledge, standards of entry to the profession, and the need for public confidence, frequently face ethical dilemmas. Coupled with this, the Malaysian government has asserted that public servants need to have the highest integrity in delivering services to contribute directly to the establishment of a favorable environment and to show a good relationship with stakeholders. Arguments have been made that restrictions should be written into the new code of ethics for librarians and information professionals to ensure they behave ethically when doing their jobs. Although there is a concept of integrity measures in Malaysia which has been defined by some standards, there is no defined model of performance for librarians which addresses the issue of ethics and integrity. Therefore, the current study seeks to investigate ways to improve job performance through integrity, and to propose a model of integrity-driven performance. The study, which is a qualitative study, has used semi-structured interviews to explore the efficiency of the integrity of public library leaders with the Method Framework analysis. There are six attributes of integrity: responsible; clean, efficient and trustworthy; fair, just and wise; transparency; professionalism and efficiency and security protection found to be adopted by twenty leaders of public libraries that may affect their work performance. The findings of this study have implications for the model, policy and practice on integrity that can be adopted by libraries and other government agencies. This model can therefore be seen as a map that will guide organizations with appropriate measures when trying to improve performance through integrity. Organizations can employ the model to enhance the effects of other determinants of performance exercises to maintain leadership skills in uncertain and volatile workplaces.
