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Sat, Nov 6, 10:30 - 10:55, Astor Room Paper (refereed)

Recommended Citation: Hilton, T S E, S H Oh, and H Al-Lawati. Information Systems Ethics in Oman, South Korea, and the USA. In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2004, v 21 (Newport): §3253. ISSN: 1542-7382. (A later version appears in Information Systems Education Journal 5(32). ISSN: 1545-679X.)

Recipient of Distinguished Merit Award

Information Systems Ethics in Oman, South Korea, and the USA

Refereed

27 pages

Thomas S. E. Hilton    [a1] [a2]
MIS Department
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire    [u1] [u2]
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA    [c1] [c2]

Se Hyung (David) Oh    [a1] [a2]
MIS Department
University of Wisconsin Eau Claire    [u1] [u2]
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA    [c1] [c2]

Husain Al-Lawati    [a1] [a2]
Central Bank of the Sultanate of Oman    [u1] [u2]
Oman    [c1] [c2]

A 30-item, three section IS ethics questionnaire was completed by a convenience sample of 520 bank employees, 129 in the western USA, 176 in the Sultanate of Oman, and 215 in the Republic of South Korea. Section 1 concerned employee use of employer IS resources for personal entertainment, section 2 concerned employee use of employer IS resources for personal gain or the gain of family or friends, and section 3 concerned employer monitoring of employee use of employer IS resources. ANOVA yielded statistically significant differences among the samples on 28 items in all three sections; 14 of these represented differing degrees of commitment but overall agreement on the ethicality of the behavior described; 12 represented actual disagreement as to whether a behavior was ethical or not. Of the 12 actual disagreements, 6 were in section 1 and concerned after-hours use of IS resources, 2 were in section 2 and concerned printing and storing personal documents, and 4 were in section 3 and concerned giving prior notice to employees when monitoring them. In sections 1 and 2, all three samples gave relatively conservative responses, favoring employer rights of ownership over employee rights of possession and use. In section 3, only the US sample answered conservatively; this section generated differences of the greatest magnitude among the three samples. The US sample was the most conservative on 25 items, the Omani sample was most conservative on 4 items; the South Korean sample was most conservative on only 1 item.

Keywords: information systems, ethics, international, Oman, South Korea, banking

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