The
rising economic crime is a growing global threat and this
threat is also prevalent in Malaysia, with members of senior
management being incriminated in 21% of the reported fraud
cases, which is higher than the 17% registered for the Asia
and Pacific regions and 18% globally (PricewaterhouseCoopers,
2005). The root cause of corporate scandals in America,
according to Kochan (2002), is the overemphasis that American
corporations have been forced to give in recent years to maximizing
the shareholder value without any regard for the effect of
their actions on other stakeholders. The love of money does
not represent one's needs; instead it reflects one's wants
and values (Locke, 1969). Hence, the love of money is related
to greed and materialism.
Greed is defined as an inordinate
desire for wealth (Sloan, 2002). Materialism is the belief
that the pursuit of physical well-being is of the highest
value in life. All wrongdoings can be traced to an excessive
attachment to material wealth as materialistic people are
only concerned with possession defined success (e.g., owning
things to indicate success) and acquisition as a pursuit of
happiness (e.g., feeling happy about owning thing). Greater
materialism results in loss of a sense of community, which
in turn makes individuals more selfish and less altruistic
(Ang, 2000).
Hence, the purpose of this study is to examine
the impact of the love of money and religiosity on the ethical
orientations of future managers in Malaysia. It also seeks
to determine whether this love of money is a universal phenomenon
amongst the major ethnic races in Malaysia. In
modern societies, one cannot live without money. Money is
an instrument of commerce as well as a measure of value. However,
there is a plethora of definitions for the meaning of money.
Money is a motivator. According to Lawler (1971) and Gupta
and Shaw (1998), no other incentive or motivational technique
comes even close to money.
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