A comparative study of ethical attitudes among MIS students and professionals

Abstract

This paper discusses attitudes toward ethical issues in information systems. Approximately 120 subjects were drawn from two populations: full-time undergraduate business students and full-time MIS employees who were also part-time students studying for a masters in MIS. Both groups were enrolled in an MIS course at the time of the study.The subjects read twenty information systems-based scenarios and classified the 31 behaviors described in them as Unacceptable, Questionable, or Acceptable. The results were compared to each other, as well as to the results of prior studies using the same instrument. The replication of earlier work with somewhat different subject groups provides the foundation for the present study. The prior studies showed South African students to be more "ethically lenient" than corresponding American students.The hypothesis that the MIS professionals would demonstrate a greater sensitivity to MIS ethical issues than either the undergraduate business or information systems majors is supported. Although earlier researchers have used undergraduates as substitutes for information systems personnel in many ethics studies, these two population groups do, in fact, differ.