Information technology and ethics: An exploratory factor analysis
- Southern Methodist Univ., Dallas, TX (United States)
- Georgia State Univ., Atlanta, GA (United States)
- Baruch College, New York, NY (United States)
Ethical dilemmas are situations in which a decision results in unpleasant consequences. The unpleasant consequences are treated as a zero-sum game in which someone always loses. Introducing information technology (IT) to a situation makes the recognition of a potential loser more abstract and difficult to identify, thus an ethical dilemma may go unrecognized. The computer mediates the human relationship which causes a lost sense of contact with a person at the other end of the computer connection. In 1986, Richard O. Mason published an essay identifying privacy, accuracy, property, and Access (PAPA) as the four main ethical issues of the information age. Anecdotes for each issue describe the injured party`s perspective to identify consequences resulting from unethical use of information and information technology. This research sought to validate Mason`s social issues empirically, but with distinct differences. Mason defined issues to raise awareness and initiate debate on the need for a social agenda; our focus is on individual computer users and the attitudes they hold about ethical behavior in computer use. This study examined the attitudes of the computer user who experiences the ethical dilemma to determine the extent to which ethical components are recognized, and whether Mason`s issues form recognizable constructs.
- OSTI ID:
- 111332
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-941133-; TRN: 95:005753-0006
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Meeting on ethics in the computer age, Gatlinburg, TN (United States), 11-13 Nov 1994; Other Information: PBD: 1994; Related Information: Is Part Of Ethics in the computer age. Conference proceedings; Kizza, J.M. [ed.]; PB: 219 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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