The construction of integrity in the SA work context

Abstract

Integrity has become an important behavioural attribute in the workplace, significantly impacting on various employment and employee development decisions. Despite the noticeable increase in the use of integrity tests there are some significant unresolved issues, particularly disagreement regarding the construct validity of integrity tests (Cullen & Sackett, 2004). Construct clarification of integrity remains complex and hugely debated, which is indicative of the fact that further research is required to enhance our understanding of the construct of integrity in the workplace. The limited South African research on the construct of integrity introduces a second component to this initial issue, namely that the construct of integrity may not be fully understood in the South African context. Thirdly, integrity tests are based on a specific construct-perspective of integrity that do not account for positive psychology perspectives or for the more developmental conceptualisations of integrity evident in philosophy and general psychology (Barnard, 2007).