2nd Reading Assignment

Title: Morality and computers: attitudes and differences in moral judgments.

Author(s):Urs E. Gattiker and Helen Kelley.

Source Citation: Information Systems Research 10.3 (Sept 1999): 233. InfoTrac Custom Periodicals 100. Gale. Manuel S. Enverga University Foundation. 6 July 2009 .

ABSTRACT:
Business ethics is an emerging area of research in many subfields of management, including information systems (IS). Empirical IS research has studied differences in users' attitudes and in moral judgments regarding ethical computer-related behavior. This study applied the "domains of morality" approach to determine how users felt about certain computer-related behaviors. Vignettes describing ethical dilemmas involving computer technology (e.g., uploading a computer virus on an electronic network/bulletin board system) were presented to a sample of Internet users. The research findings offered several interesting and, in some cases, unexpected results. The empirical results indicated that older computer users have a less permissive sense of what is right and wrong for an illegal game. When computers were used to test a banned game, men and women differed in their assessment of its appropriateness. A surprising finding was that participants were not likely to endorse civil liberties, and were more concerned about the harm to, and violations of, social norms when the scenario described a situation involving a computer virus. How users perceive, prejudge, and discriminate computer ethics and abusive computer actions raises numerous questions and implications for IS researchers, IS practitioners, and policy makers. The results of this study foster a better understanding of Internet users' moral categorization of specific computer behaviors and, hopefully, help to further reduce risks and vulnerabilities of systems by identifying computer actions deemed ethically acceptable by users. Opportunities for IS researchers to further explore this timely issue are also discussed. (Computer Security; Domain Theory of Moral Development; Data Encryption; Computer Viruses; Gender; Ethics; Socioeconomic Status; Age).

Three (3) things I learned:

1. The development of ethical standards and regulations that are perceived as acceptable and appropriate by the majority of users is needed to facilitate compliance with legislation and with company and industry policies for the ethical use of computer technology.
2. Moral reasoning often exists for individuals as representations of their collective beliefs regarding what is just or unjust.
3. We must develop a better understanding of the moral development of the growing numbers and varieties of computer users, especially with respect to the social transgressions committed by some.

Implications of the new things I learned:

We are in a computer world now. We witnessed a rapid evolution in and adoption of computer technologies and the Internet. Because of the proliferation of computer technology and the introduction of new technology, many individuals use their computers on a daily basis at home or work.
This only implies that we have to know the right attitude in using the computer and the internet. Also, there are instances that computer users from different socioeconomic status on moral judgments of ethical dilemmas involving computer technology when the situations are categorized as residing in the personal, conventional knowledge, an moral domains.