Designing and Explaining a Professional Ethics Model for Managers in the Organization of Guidance, Hajj, and Endowments of Afghanistan

Abstract

This study aimed to design and explain a comprehensive, indigenous, and operational model of professional ethics for managers in the Organization of Guidance, Hajj, and Endowments of Afghanistan, compatible with the country’s religious, cultural, social, and organizational context. This qualitative study employed thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke’s six-phase approach. Participants were purposively selected from senior and middle managers, Hajj and endowment affairs experts, members of endowment boards of trustees, and seminary and university academics. Semi-structured interviews continued until theoretical saturation was achieved, resulting in the participation of 15 individuals. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, repeatedly reviewed, and systematically analyzed using MAXQDA 2020. Themes were subsequently reviewed for internal coherence and consistency with the overall dataset, defined and named, and finally organized into an integrated conceptual model of managerial professional ethics. The analysis indicated that professional ethics in the organization is shaped by an “institutional contradiction.” Deeply rooted religious and cultural values, moral conscience, perceived accountability before God, and strong societal expectations provide substantial potential for ethical managerial conduct; however, structural and managerial deficiencies, ethnic and tribal favoritism, lack of transparency in reward and punishment systems, and inadequate monitoring and accountability mechanisms impede the practical realization of this potential. The resulting model suggests that overcoming this contradiction requires the simultaneous implementation of six categories of strategies: managerial, supervisory, supportive, educational, cultural, and manager-level individual strategies. Effective implementation of these strategies may promote public trust, social capital, organizational productivity, job satisfaction, and institutional credibility. Conversely, persistence of the existing conditions is associated with institutional distrust, systemic and group-based corruption, employee burnout, normalization of unethical conduct, and waste of public resources. Professional ethics in the Organization of Guidance, Hajj, and Endowments of Afghanistan cannot be institutionalized solely by strengthening managers’ individual ethical beliefs; rather, simultaneous reforms in managerial structures, monitoring and accountability systems, supportive mechanisms, and organizational culture are required to transform religious and cultural values from symbolic principles into sustainable organizational practices.