IT Ethics Perceptions and Behavior: An International Comparison

Abstract

The paper discusses differences in IT ethics perceptions and behavior of college students. The study is one of the few that examine multicultural differences in IT ethics on a convenience sample of 1,648 individuals from seven countries in three continents. We adopted an Ethics Decision-Making Model with Cultural Impacts and applied it on the examination of relations between IT ethics perceptions, behavior, nationality and culture operationalized through Hofstede’s scores. We collected data through an online questionnaire where respondents evaluated 21 scenarios describing various IT ethical issues in the form of a narrative, and seven items on individual’s behavior toward IT ethics issues. The individuals’ perceptions of IT ethics and their behavior differed significantly, and most of these differences were associated with nationality and culture. Associations between perceptions and behavior were also uncovered, which leads to the importance of understanding perceptions in order to change less ethical behavior regarding IT use.