Confucius was a Chinese educator, thinker and social philosopher who lived in 6th century (551 - 479 BC). It is important to know that because of Confucius' wisdom and teachings, the great Han Dynasty Emperor Wu (156 BC – 87 BC), rejected a hundred of other philosophical schools in favour of Confucius, thus effectively making China a Confucian state. Yú Dān, 2010 cited in Low and Ang, 2011c. So far, there are not many writings about Confucius and the value of integrity apart from what he has postulated and was recorded in the Analects of Confucius; hence, this paper seeks to highlight the Old Master's key writings that portray the importance of integrity in human relationship, leadership and business dealings. It is the authors' viewpoints that a gentleman/lady (君子, jūnzǐ ) or a leader should embrace and practice the value of integrity Low, 2010, 2010a; Low and Ang, 2011; and without integrity at the helm of a company, a business is usually short-lived. In fact, when business integrity is present throughout the deepest layers of a company and not just at its surface, it becomes the heart and soul of the company's culture and can mean the difference between a company that succeeds and a company that falters.

The aim and objectives of the paper are to examine the various ways in which leaders should be of high integrity, and they are seen from the Confucian perspective and it is intended to examine or highlight several key concepts of Confucian leadership, one of which is being a leader of high integrity and applying reciprocity to promote positive and good relationships among each other in a society. The academicians/ researchers examine the 'upright leaders' looking from the Confucian angle in South East Asia, more so, in the Brunei context.

Tao means “the way of life” and Confucius recognized that the attainment of Tao is the ultimate enlightenment in one's life. He remarked, “朝聞道, 夕死可矣.” Hanyu pinyin: zhāo wén dào , xī sǐ kě yǐ meaning if he or she learns the truth about the way of life in the morning, (s)he would never regret dying in the same evening. (Analects of Confucius, Chapter IX: 8). Confucius encouraged his students to live by the principles of setting one's aspirations on the way of life (道, dào), embraces and practices on good virtues (德, dé), rely on one's (仁, rén) humaneness, and relax in the study of the arts. (Analects of Confucius, Chapter VII: 6). The eight good virtues Confucian scholars commonly propounded are as follows:- 1) Filial piety (孝, xiào); 2) brotherhood, peer-ship and equality (悌, tì); 3) loyalty and fidelity (忠, zhōng); 4) trustworthiness (信, xìn); 5) courtesy and politeness (禮, lǐ ); 6) righteousness, right conduct and courage (義, yì); 7) upright, honourable, integrity and character (廉, lien ), and 8) humility and shamefulness (恥, chǐ ).

Integrity comes from the same Latin root as “integer” literally means “whole”: As one remembers numbers such as integers from maths - they are whole numbers. Integrity truly means whole, or complete. Therefore, in this context, integrity is the inner sense of “wholeness” deriving from qualities such as honesty and consistency of character. Integrity refers to the quality of a person's character.

Integrity is also attributed to various parts or aspects of a person's life. One speaks of attributes such as professional, intellectual and artistic integrity. However, the most philosophically important sense of the term 'integrity' relates to general character. Philosophers have been particularly concerned to understand what it is for a person to exhibit integrity throughout life. (SEP, 2011). As such, one may judge that others 'have integrity' to the extent that they act according to the core values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold. Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy, in that it regards internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs.

Confucius remarked, “Man's existence lies in his integrity. A man without integrity can exist merely through his luck.” (Analects of Confucius, VI: 19). A person's integrity of being truthful and sincere to oneself and society is of great importance and it appears that many often overlooked that the essence of Confucianism is the “idea of being true to oneself in this world” (interestingly, there is an intrinsic or inside-out approach) when fulfilling obligations to family and others in society Wang, 2004: 51. When one is truthful to oneself, one would then be able to fulfil one's obligation to look after one's family in a caring and sincere way. When an individual can achieve this, then for one to care and contribute to one's society would come in a natural way. Therefore, sincerity and integrity of an individual are the key strengths of the Confucian ethics when applied to the social relationship in society Low & Ang, 2011. Whatever, even very little that each of us, individuals can do for our respective universe that would be great. After all, it would contribute to the overall goodness, similar to what the late Indian nationalist leader Mohandas Gandhi (1869 –1948) said, that is, “be the change you want to see in the world.” And individuals do make a difference in ethical actions. Being a sincere and reliable person, one can work confidently in partnerships with others such as the family, the government, the political parties and the civil society to safe guard and advance the future of a society with corporate social responsibility.

Leading with integrity is one of the great challenges of leadership. Leadership phrases such as “walk the talk” and “lead by example” are common remarks made by employers and employees. Unfortunately, an individual can not just lead by power, force or authority alone. (s)he really has to “do the right thing, even if nobody is watching”, as the saying goes. In this respect, Confucius said that a leader should be upright and act with integrity in order to lead his people effectively and he said this in a very positive manner, “If the leader acts properly, the common people will obey him without being ordered to; if the leader does not act properly, the common people will not obey him even after repeated injunctions.” (Analects of Confucius XIII: 6). Furthermore, Confucius advised his students, “blaming others' faults cannot glorify oneself; blaming others' bad conduct cannot ensure one's own proper conduct.” Zhou, 2005. pp.16. In this regard, integrity is about the self-cultivation, self-discipline and self-growth of an individual and it has nothing or little to do with faults and conduct of other people.

Integrity is really tested when difficulties and hardships come into one's leadership. Take for example, when majority of the followers do not understand or find it difficult to understand what the leader is trying to convey or lead. The leader needs to pause, reflect and review how (s)he can make his or her followers understand his or her purpose of doing/leading. True integrity does not take the easy way out for not making one's leadership transparent and accountable.

At its core, integrity begins with a corporate leader who understands the qualities of integrity which then filters down throughout the company into every department and every member's approach and attitude. A good corporate person does not do self-interest actions and engage in office politics for material gains, these are actions of a petty or small person (小人, xiǎo rén). A corporate person of high integrity will do various actions for the benefits of others – and the organization as a whole.

To these researchers, a very good example of a good corporate person who practices loving-kindness, as well as being influential and leading the Confucian way is that of the late Matsushita Konosuke (1894 - 1989), the founder of Japan's Matsushita Electric (Low, 2008). The business owner/ marketer should be people-centered. Putting “people before products” (PHP, 1994: 54), the business owner should also be responsible to his employees as well as customers, serving their needs. The late Matsushita Konosuke believed in respecting and developing people and consulting them on doing things. He said, “Consulting is better than ordering.” He was known for broaching the topic as if seeking advice or offering a suggestion and he would never order his employees to do what he wanted them to do. In other words instead of simply saying, “Would you do such and such?” he would say something like, “I've been thinking we could do such-and-such this way; what do you think?” or “Would you undertake this job?” Thus, he made his employees comfortable and felt ease in presenting their own opinions and suggestions on the matter. (PHP, 1994: 58 - 59). Another example of a good corporate person is Lee Kuan Yew who said at the Economic Society of Singapore's annual dinner, “Singapore's success is due to integrity. What Singapore is doing is to create a system which will have the strongest team with integrity in place to lead.” CNAR, 2008. However, behind a good corporate leader, they must have a good and dynamic team of Singaporeans, as Lee himself has said the Singapore leadership's “greatest asset was the trust and confidence of the people”, “the other valuable asset” – “hardworking, thrifty, eager to learn” (Lee, 2000: 24 cited in Low, 2011).

Adopting a humanist approach, Confucians strive for the virtues of integrity and character; human-orientated; they are concerned with their people. We develop the following research model on Confucian leaders and their being caring (Table 1).

This research is based on a series of interviews – each time approximately 45 minutes though some interviews might stretch to an hour plus – conducted with a total of eightythree Chinese employers and employees from Small and Medium Enterprises in Brunei, and the period of study was from 16 March 2011 to 31 November 2011. The study relies on the qualitative research method. It is worthy to note that similar to Low's (2006, 2006a) and Low and Ang's (2011b) studies, being assured of confidentiality and anonymity, the interviewees expressed themselves freely. At the beginning of these interviews, the researchers started with some small talk to put the interviewees at ease. Very often, a light conversation on their personal likes and interests, detected in previous interactions or previous telephone calls, would serve as a springboard for further discussions on the motivational sources of the interviewees. This interview method is helpful since it enables much qualitative data to be collected from the interviewees. To get more information and data from the various interviewees, open questions were deployed Cavana, Delahaye and Sekaran, 2001; they were crafted as follows:

1. What are your views on being a leader with high integrity, the Confucian way?

2. Do you think that embracing and practising 'The value of integrity' helps you to lead well in your line of business?

3. Why do you need to be a leader with integrity?

4. What are the ways in which you are motivated by a leader who are concerned with integrity?

5. What do you like about being leader with integrity in the eyes of the employees, the Confucian 'style'?

6. What attracts you to such an upright leader?

Pilot-testing was felt necessary, as it was not easy to predict how respondents would interpret and react to the questions Gill and Johnson, 1997. Checking was also done during the pilot testing to ensure that all the questions were understandable Haworth (ed.), 1996: 47. They were also asked to suggest additional questions and to identify any highly relevant questions. To increase comprehension and improve clarity, this list of questions was then modified based on several respondents' feedback; for example, the above Question 5 was modified from “What do you like about being a leader with integrity in the eyes of the employees?” Interestingly, these questions also allowed the researchers to gather more information on the various sources of motivation from the interviewees. In this way, the authors attempt to find out and understand the interviewees' perceived values of being “a leader with integrity” and what makes the (Confucian) leader attractive.

To clarify further, it is interesting to note that the researchers conducted this 45 minute-long (at least and at times stretched to an hour plus) in-depth interviews with each of them. They attempted to formalize-regularize the process as much as they could. However, they knew before they started that the more they would attempt to control the process, the less real wisdom they would get from the discussions. So the tension between doing “legitimate” (formal) qualitative research and getting the deepest possible responses from their interviewees became one the most interesting challenges that they confronted. Admittedly, the researchers at times strayed from the format; they then asked probing questions in the interviews where formal methods for generating data collection could easily be sacrificed in response to the richness and spontaneity of the intimate, unhurried conversational inquiry that permitted probes for additional clarification, examples, and so on.

An example of a probing question asked is that of: “For what reasons do you think your followers are motivated when they know that you are an upright leader?”, after the interviewees were answering this question: “What do you like about being seen as a leader with integrity?”

As this is a qualitative research based on the in-depth interview of the respondents with regard to a single value of integrity, only percentage analysis is applied. The authors feel that this method is good enough for an exploratory research and hence no statistical tool is applied. This method is similar to the two previous works the authors have done Ang and Low, 2012; Low and Ang, 2011d.

Table 1. The Research Model

Seventy-nine interviewees or 95.1 percent of the total number of interviewees agreed that one of the dimensions of leaders with integrity is “Leaders deliver as what they promise” and some said, “I really trust my boss because he always say what he means”; “I have no doubt about her because she always keep her promises”; “I cannot accept empty promises and my employees know me best”; “ I always depend on him because for somehow or other, he would deliver whatever he promises.”; “My employees believe me because I mean what I say” and “Being a director myself, I always advise my managers to “walk the talk “or otherwise they would lost all the credibility and the support from the management team as well as the employees”.

Seventy-seven interviewees or 92.8 percent of the total number of interviewees voted that a leader with integrity is honest and sincere in action. They also give remarks such as “integrity encompasses honesty”; “do not backstab or speak badly of others”; “normally they are positive in their outlook and appreciate people for what they are. Here too, there is good talent management.” and “when he did something wrong, he honestly and openly admit it”.

Seventy-four interviewees or 89.2 percent of the total number of interviewees expressed that a leader with integrity is dependable and can be trusted and some said, “Integrity is trustworthiness”; “integrity is about being able to trust the person; we can depend on the person for help”; “he or she is responsible”; “(s)he who lives up to all the good virtues and is reliable to him(herself) and to others.”; “an individual who is constantly honest and trustworthy even when nobody is around him or her”; “(s)he is a person who live by his or her beliefs/values/principles” and “when he promises you something, he would not change/shift a bit hence I am confident that he is reliable.”

Sixty-nine interviewees or 83.1 percent of the total number of interviewees indicated that “Confucian leaders are of high integrity.” Some mentioned that, “They set good example.”; “if I find out that something is fishy with the business dealing, I will retreat”; “I only deal with people of high integrity”; “I give full support and trust to honest people and I know that it takes time to trust a person”; “I am very careful about my attitude and behaviour. I know that if I don't act properly my company's reputation would be at stake” and “I like to make friends with people of high integrity because I feel safe when I do business dealings with them”.

Table 2. The Interviewees' Responses on the Value of Integrity, the Confucian Perspective.

Sixty-five interviewees or 78.3 percent of the total number of interviewees highlighted the importance of being ethical to be upright leaders. They pointed out that leaders “hold high the value of humanity (仁, rén)”; “Confucian leaders are ethical.”; “they would normally do things for humanity.”; “I admire his leadership because he respects the dignity and the rights of others.”; “I must say he is ethical because he always demonstrate a level of integrity to us that is important for stimulating a sense of leadership trustworthiness.” and “We accept his vision because of his ethical beliefs, values and decisions.”

Sixty interviewees or 72.2 percent of the total number of interviewees agreed that one of the dimensions of leaders with integrity is they have “no self-interest or personal gain” and some urged “not (to) engage in bad office politics; why bad office politics? These are actions that can harm others and the organization. These are actions that suit the individual as well as for the person's self-gain”. Table 2 shows same key responses verbalised by the Interviewees.

Confucius said, “How can one be acceptable without being trustworthy in words? This is just like a cart without a collar-bar or a carriage without a yoke-bar. How can it move forward?” (Analects of Confucius, II: 22). Obviously, when leaders do not deliver and from time to time breaking promises, things cannot move forward. In this study, seventy-nine interviewees or 95.1 percent of the total number of interviewees agreed that one of the dimensions of leaders with integrity is “leaders deliver as what they promise” and some said, “I really trust my boss because he always say what he means”; “I have no doubt about her because she always keep her promises”; “ cannot accept empty promises and my employees knows me best”; “ I always depend on him because for somehow or other he would deliver whatever he promises.”. “My employees believe me because I mean what I say” and “being a director myself, I always advise my managers to “walk the talk “or otherwise they would lost all the credibility and the support from the management team as well as the employees”.

Confucius said, “Before praising a man who is honest in speech, one should observe: Is he a true gentleman or is his dignity just pretence?” (Analects of Confucius, XI: 21). Very clearly, one cannot trust a leader by his or her words but one should see him or her in actions as well. In this survey, seventy-seven interviewees or 92.8 percent of the total number of interviewees voted that a leader with integrity is honest and sincere in action. They also give remarks such as “Integrity encompasses honesty”. One “does not backstab or speak badly of others”; “normally they are positive in their outlook and appreciate people for what they are. Here too, there is good talent management.” and “when he did something wrong, he honestly and openly admit it”.

Zǎi Yú (宰予), Confucius' disciple, was not hard-working and always slept in the daytime when others are studying. Confucius said resentfully, “One cannot expect to carve on a piece of rotten wood, nor can one expect to whitewash a filthy wall. As for Zǎi Yú (宰予), what is the point of scolding him?” Confucius added, “I used to trust what people said, now I want to see what they do before I trust them. It is from Zǎi Yú (宰予) that I have learnt to change my attitude in dealing with people.” (Analects of Confucius, V: 10). Obviously, a leader should set good example before he or she can be dependable and trusted. In this study, seventy-four interviewees or 89.2 percent of the total number of interviewees expressed that a leader with integrity is dependable and can be trusted and some said, “Integrity is trustworthiness”; “integrity is about being able to trust the person; we can depend on the person for help”; “he or she is responsible”; “ (s)he who lives up to all the good virtues and is reliable to him(herself) and to others.”; “an individual who is constantly honest and trustworthy even when nobody is around him or her”; “(s)he is a person who live by his or her beliefs/values/principles” and “when he promises you something, he would not change/shift a bit hence I am confident that he is reliable.”

Integrity embraces honesty and trustworthiness; others or the followers can depend on or trust us. Integrity refers to behaviour that is honest and ethical, making a person trustworthy. Honesty refers to trustworthiness rather than deception. Integrity is the most important asset that one can possess. Lussier and Achua, 2007. pp.34. As Confucius said, “Without integrity and good examples, a leader becomes “a person who lacks gravity (and) does not inspire respect” (Confucius cited in Chew, 2000: 2, italics ours). A leader gains moral grounds and attracts his followers as a role model of good examples. His actions are louder than words. As highlighted by Low (2006), role models should be assessed in the light of honesty and integrity. When comes with the time that the followers have doubt and question their leaders' honesty and integrity, leaders cannot be role models. In business, a caring leader is courageous, honest and has a real sense of commitment to transparency. One has the mental and moral strengths to venture, persevere and withstand difficulties. In this study, thirty-four interviewees or 79.1 percent of the total number of interviewees indicated that caring leaders, the Confucian way “are of high integrity”. “They set good example.” and some respondents said that “I cannot accept empty promises and my employees knows me best”; “if I find out that something is fishy with the business dealing, I will retreat”; “I only deal with people of high integrity”; “I give full support and trust to honest people and I know that it takes time to trust a person”; “I am very careful about my attitude and behaviour. I know that if I don't act properly my company's reputation would be at stake” and “I like to make friends with people of high integrity because I feel safe when I do business dealings with them”

Stressing on the importance of an upright leader, Confucius remarked confidently, “Why should a leader have any difficulty in managing and administrating his country if he is upright? How could a leader correct others if he himself is not upright?” (Analects of Confucius XIII: 13). So, what does he mean by an upright leader? Considering the Confucian sociopolitical norms for the leader, Confucius suggests that those who want to be leaders have to be ethical in having virtuous characters and attitudes based on personal cultivation, Confucius asserts harmoniously interpersonal relations in social organizations, that is, reciprocally obligatory relationship on the ground of hierarchical relations. In this study, sixtyfive interviewees or 78.3 percent of the total number of interviewees highlighted the importance of being ethical to be upright leaders. They pointed out that leaders “hold high the value of humanity (仁, rén)”; “Confucian leaders are ethical”; “they would normally do things for humanity”; “I admire his leadership because he respects the dignity and the rights of others”; “I must say he is ethical because he always demonstrate a level of integrity to us that is important for stimulating a sense of leadership trustworthiness” and “we accept his vision because of his ethical beliefs, values and decisions.”

Confucius remarked, “The gentleman (君子, jūnzǐ ) understands what is right; the petty man understands what will sell and make profit.” (Analects of Confucius IV: 16). In another words, the gentleman has the proper virtue and understanding of doing things right. He understands what is right and what is wrong when doing business. The petty man, on the other hand, only understands what can make him rich. In Confucius' mind, leaders had an obligation to cultivate themselves morally; to demonstrate filial piety and loyalty; and to act with benevolence towards their fellow men. In this study, sixty interviewees or 72.2 percent of the total number of interviewees agreed that one of the dimensions of leaders with integrity is that they have “no self-interest or personal gain” and some advised and warn leader, “Does not engage in bad office politics; why bad office politics? These are actions that can harm others and the organization. These are actions that suit the individual as well as for the person's self-gain”.

Figure 1. Characteristics of Leaders who Embrace the Value of Integrity.

In sum, the characteristics of leaders who embrace and practice the value of integrity are always deliver as what they promise; honest and sincere in actions; being dependable and can be trusted; being of high integrity; being ethical and no self-interest or personal gain. Figure 2 illcestrater the chacteristies of leaders who embrace and practice.

One of the key limitations of the study is that it focuses on only selected respondents' interview outcome only. Nonetheless, based on the study's findings, it can be taken or viewed that leaders with integrity are being humanorientated; practicing humanness (仁rén), being of high integrity (廉, lien) and applying reciprocity (恕, shù) are important leadership behaviours; and they can make the Confucian leader attractive, if not charismatic. These behaviours are also very motivating to the employees. The implication and contribution of this research is to enhance the definition and the understanding of the value of integrity from the Confucian perspective. It would hopefully encourage the Chinese leaders and managers, in the Asian countries such as China, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore, who are strongly influenced by the Confucian philosophy to practice and uphold the value of integrity in their daily businesses. This research has only been carried out in Brunei and it is of great interest to find out how leaders with integrity behave in other settings in South East Asia.

Confucius teachings emphasized correct moral and ethical behaviour of both the individual as well as the family/organization/nation. Low and Ang, 2011. His teachings underscored the importance of social relationships, justice and sincerity. In short, it was aimed at creating peace and harmony in a society with social responsibility. The aim and purpose of having and cultivating a leader with integrity is to enable him or her to set a good example for the followers and others; and to lead and encourage people to carry out a proper life and livelihood and have good relationships with the people around oneself so that more people would attain similar good virtues; and if this continues to be so, there would be fewer frictions in relationships and thus this creates positive energies in group dynamics and teams. All would then be working towards a peaceful and harmonious society, and since everybody behaves in a socially responsible way, the people in business, when relating with their stakeholders (community and society) would be able to prosper in doing their businesses. Furthermore, there would be fewer problems in business dealings and transactions in the wider society and country.