Abstract

This study assessed the ethical work environment at Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), an agency of Government of Malawi (GoM) responsible for the assessment, collection and accounting for tax revenues because there has never been such a research since its establishment in 2000 therefore contributing to the body of knowledge in applied ethics. It employed Victor’s and Cullen’s theory for organizational ethical climate and the modified Corporate Ethical Virtue (CEV) model developed by Kaptein as theoretical frameworks. The modified CEV model incorporated African ubuntu virtue of communality because MRA as an African firm has been treated as a community of individuals pursuing a common good through ubuntu. The study employed mixed methods approach in data collection, analysis and interpretation. Quantitative data was collected from randomly sampled 240 MRA employees using an online survey questionnaire. Qualitative data was collected from purposely sampled 16 key informants through structured and semi-structured interview guide and document review. The study showed that Malawi Revenue Authority has ethical instruments and programs geared at enhancing ethical behaviour among its employees. The study has further shown that employees felt that there are strong virtues of transparency, discussability and communality prevailing at MRA in which 58.51%, 62.56% and 54.48% of employees respectively agreed to their existence. On the other hand, although the employees felt that the virtues of supportability (49.13%) and sanctionability (47.64%) prevail at MRA, the same are felt by less than half of employees implying that it is easier for the employees to behave unethically. Once the employees feel that they are not supported to meet their normative expectations and comply with the ethical standards and note that there is no benefit in being ethical, they are likely to resort to unethical behaviour. There are future research opportunities by including other stations of MRA, other public and private institutions and comparing their ethical environments.

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School	: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Issued Date	: 2023

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