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Fri, Nov 7, 4:00 - 4:30, Pueblo B Paper (refereed)

Recommended Citation: Woodward, B S, W Ceccucci, and M Whitney. IT Students and Computer Ethics: Making the Case for Further Training and Ethical Development. In The Proceedings of the Information Systems Education Conference 2008, v 25 (Phoenix): §2722. ISSN: 1542-7382. (A later version appears in Information Systems Education Journal 7(77). ISSN: 1545-679X.)

IT Students and Computer Ethics: Making the Case for Further Training and Ethical Development

Refereed

10 pages

Belle S. Woodward    [a1] [a2]
Information Systems and Applied Technologies
Southern Illinois University Carbondale    [u1] [u2]
Carbondale, Illinois, USA    [c1] [c2]

Wendy Ceccucci    [a1] [a2]
Information Systems Management
Quinnipiac University    [u1] [u2]
Hamden, Connecticut, USA    [c1] [c2]

Michael Whitney    [a1] [a2]
Information Systems and Applied Technologies
Southern Illinois University Carbondale    [u1] [u2]
Carbondale, Illinois, USA    [c1] [c2]

This study examines the computer ethics of information technology students. Students and Ethics IT faculty were given short scenarios in which they were to evaluate, based on a 5 point Likert scale, if they considered the actions ethical or a computer crime. They were then asked if they would act in an ethical manner if placed in the same situation. The students’ answers were then compared to the answers supplied by the IT faculty. Results indicated that IT students were less able than their faculty to identify or distinguish ethical behaviors from unethical ones. Additionally, students reported a greater likelihood of acting in unethical ways regardless of their abilities to identify ethical/ unethical behaviors. These results suggest that IT students need more training in IT ethics.

Keywords: ethics, unethical behavior, information technology students

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