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Muslims’ View of God as a Predictor of Ethical Behaviour in Organisations: Scale Development and Validation

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Abstract

While there is a widespread acceptance of the link between religiosity and ethics, there is less certainty how this influence occurs exactly, necessitating further research into these issues. A main roadblock to our understanding of this influence from an Islamic perspective is the absence of a validated measurement tool. The purpose of this study therefore is to develop a Scale of Muslims’ Views of Allah (SMVA). This article discusses how the SMVA was developed through the following five steps: (1) establishment of content and face validity; (2) application of a cognitive interviewing technique to pretest the SMVA with sixteen participants; (3) pilot testing of the SMVA with twelve participants; (4) administration of the SMVA online to marketing and management professionals (n = 472) via a multi-stage cluster sampling process to verify the scale’s reliability and validity; and (5) testing criterion-related validity. The results showed that the newly constructed 13-item scale had adequate psychometric properties. Finally, the implications for organisations, limitations and future research are discussed.

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Notes

  1. We start the creation of an initial item pool by wording 40 items, and in the first step (the content and face validity), 13 items were eliminated. Accordingly, 40–13 items = 27 items are the remaining.

  2. In the previous step, the remaining were 19 items and we excluded three items in this step. So, the scale was refined to a 16-item scale.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business Administration, Taibah University, PO Box 344, Universities Road, Medina, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Faisal Alshehri

  2. Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, Booth Street West, Manchester, M15 6PB, UK

    Saleema Kauser

  3. Warwick Business School, The University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK

    Marianna Fotaki

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  1. Faisal Alshehri
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Correspondence to Faisal Alshehri.

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All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Appendix

Appendix

figure a
  1. 1.

    Verily, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful

  2. 2.

    He is The All-Hearing, All-Seeing

  3. 3.

    Allah becomes extremely angry

  4. 4.

    He is the Acceptor of Repentance

  5. 5.

    He is Most Loving

  6. 6.

    Allah is All-Mighty, All-Able of Retribution

  7. 7.

    Allah knows the fraud of the eyes, and all that the breast conceals

  8. 8.

    He is quick in retribution (for the disobedient, wicked)

  9. 9.

    Allah is Most Forbearing

  10. 10.

    The Subtle One

  11. 11.

    Allah is strict in torment

  12. 12.

    He is the Oft-Pardoning, the Most Generous

  13. 13.

    The Source of Peace

Instructions

This scale consists of 19 statements on various topics and there are three options for each one of them. Please tick [/] the appropriate box next to each statement. Please make sure to be open and honest about your options and be informed that there is no right or wrong answers. The best choice is an answer that best describes your opinion and what you do in reality.

  • Please respond to all statements in this scale without leaving any of them blank.

  • We assure you that all responses will be held strictly confidential and will be used only for scientific research purposes.

figure b

Note

Allah for Muslims refers to the One and Only Creator, Sustainer and Cherisher of the Universe. In this article, we consider the terms “Allah” and “God” to be synonymous and use them interchangeably.

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Alshehri, F., Kauser, S. & Fotaki, M. Muslims’ View of God as a Predictor of Ethical Behaviour in Organisations: Scale Development and Validation. J Bus Ethics 158, 1009–1027 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-017-3719-8

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