Individual characteristics and ethical decision-making in an IT context

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test an ethical decision-making model in an information technology (IT) context. The model includes both demographic and personality variables, their direct influence on beliefs and judgments, and their influence on the relationships...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Industrial management + data systems 2007-01, Vol.107 (1), p.5-20
Main Authors: Haines, Russell, Leonard, Lori N.K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Behavior
Decision making
Decision making models
Ethics
Gender
Information technology
Morality
Perceptions
Personality
Personality traits
Social norms
Studies
Variables
Women
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Summary:Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test an ethical decision-making model in an information technology (IT) context. The model includes both demographic and personality variables, their direct influence on beliefs and judgments, and their influence on the relationships between beliefs, judgments, and moral intent.Design methodology approach - Subjects were assessed on their perceptions of IT ethical scenarios both before and after discussing them with others in a web-based chat room in order to test the research model.Findings - The results show that gender has the most profound effect on ethical decision-making, with ego strength also having a strong effect, while locus of control has a negligible effect. Beliefs and judgments about questionable behavior shifted after (a chat) discussion more for those with low ego strength than those with high ego strength.Originality value - The results suggest that the relationship among factors that influence ethical decision-making is complex and different factors become more important in determining moral intent for different individuals.
ISSN:0263-5577
1758-5783
0263-5577
DOI:10.1108/02635570710719025