Perceived Organizational Support and Ethical Behaviour in Malaysia’s Service Sectors: The Moderating Role of Job Autonomy

Abstract

Ethical behaviour underpins organizational performance and stakeholder trust, yet the conditions that systematically promote it remain incompletely specified. This study examines whether perceived organizational support (POS) fosters ethical behaviour and whether job autonomy conditions this association. Guided by Organizational Support Theory and Self-Determination Theory, we employed a cross-sectional survey of employees in the education, healthcare, and finance sectors. POS, job autonomy, and ethical behaviour were measured with validated scales, and relationships were estimated using structural equation modeling with moderation analysis. Findings indicate that POS is positively associated with ethical behaviour, and this association is significantly stronger at higher levels of job autonomy. Simple-slope analyses show the highest ethical conduct among employees reporting both high POS and high autonomy, whereas the effect of POS attenuates when autonomy is low. These results refine the POS–ethics nexus by identifying autonomy as a contextual amplifier and suggest that supportive climates may be insufficient without commensurate discretion in task execution. Practically, organizations seeking to enhance ethical conduct should align initiatives that signal support—such as recognition, fair treatment, and adequate resources—with job designs that expand meaningful autonomy. Taken together, these interventions can cultivate ethically engaged workforces and, in turn, reinforce organizational performance and stakeholder trust.