CTERISTICS CORlRELATED WITH AN INDIVIDUAL’S

SITION TO RIAKING A COMPUTER-RELATED ETHICAL

JUDGMENT
E E E International Symposium on Technolopy and Society

C.A Welch Ph.D.

Polk, OH 44866 USA

Abstract--The purpose of this study was to iden* the dishonest or disgruntled employees account for as much as
inherent characteristics that are correlated with an individual’s 25 percent of all computer abuse [lo]. The motivating
predisposition to “ga computer-related ethical judgment in factors of greed, financial concerns, and other personal
accordance with a behavioral model of ethical and unethical issues were the reasons cited by employees for committing
decision making developed by Harrington [9]. The inherent
crimes. The rationale and decision making process that
characteristics identitied were negative-affectvity, other-
directedness, moral perspective, locus-ofatrol, and denial-of-
an individual undertakes in making an unethical vs. an
responsibility. Data for this study were gathered using ethical decision must be understood. Behavior that is
questionnaires. The questionnaires were administered to ethical or unethical may not always be clear-cut. This has
undergraduate and graduate business students enrolled in a to be of concern to the business college since
computer related course. Analysis of the data indicated an undergraduate students will soon be a part of the business
individual’s intent to @om the computer abuse was found to world and many graduate students are currently employed
be a fbnction of negative4kctivity and the interaction of the
individual factors of otherdirectedness, moral Perspective and The ultimate decision an individml makes, whether
denial-of-responsibility. Negative-affectivity was sigdicant to
ethical or unethical, depends on a number of factors, such
understanding decision making in different kinds of situations
and the degree to which individuals are likely to attribute as the mailable information, individual attributes, and
personal control in the same situation. This study would prove cognitive cqabfities. The Harrington’s model was
beneficial to those who teach ethics, Write ethical codes of consulted in this research in an effort to test the
conduct or business professionals who must make decisions on relationship of individual characteristics as they relate to
how to use and implementcompukr technology. its corresponding decision making step.

I. Introduction II. The Ethical Computer-RelatedDecision Making Model

Despite the use of computers as a productivity tool in
eveq aspect of business, computer crime has become one
of the most publicized aspects of computer use. Computer
crimes can involve stealing computer time, unlawful access
to files, the acquisition of privileged information, and the
actual destruction of computer files. The Software
Publishers Association - oc ‘vely estimates that one
out of every two copies of business software in use today is
an unauthorized copy [HI.Companies throughout the
United States are losing more than $2 billion a year from
software piracy and five times as much from overseas
software thefl [lq. Commercial savings banks which
have provided a safe and secure environment for an
individual’s money, have according to the FBI’s economic
crimes unit experienced an increase in electronicthee [22].
Contrary to popular belief that hackers are responsible
for the majority of computer crimes, the greatest threats to
computer security come from a company’s own employees.
According to the National Computer S d t y ikwciatioq
Harrington [SI provides a synthesis of ethical decision
lnaking models collected fkom Rest [23], Krebs and Miller
[14] and Kohlberg [13]. Using Rest’s 1231 four-stage
model as a foundation, the model begins with identification
of the ethical issues. KohIberg’s cognitive moral
development model is used in the identikation of the next
two stages. Stage two involves the judgment about the
ethical issue itself. Stage three has the decision maker
establishing ethical conviction and commitment to act
before engaging in the ethical behavior. The most
important cognitive and affective variables that influence
characteristics and affect individual decision making are
identified with the individual characteristics of self-focus,
denial of responsibility and locus of control [I$].
Harrhgton [9]associated these variables with steps in the
ethical decision making model that her research
established.
Harrington did not hypothesize relationships: (1)
between other-directedness and moral perspe&ve, (2)

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0-7803-4327-1/98/$10.00 0 1 998 IEEE

between negative-affectivity and denial-of-responsibility,
and (3) between negative-affectivity and locus-of-control B. Demographics
affecting computer-related ethical judgments.
Harrington's [9] research concluded with the revised The data associated with demographic factors could
model that this researcher used to test the relationship of correlate with an individual's ethical judgment. The
each individual characteristic to its c o m n d i n g decision demographic factors tested include age, education, job
making step. The model used is shown in Fig. 1. tenure, and socioeconomic status. Specific questions
Rhcal Decision
which were developed in the Harrington [9] study and
statistically supported were replicated in this study.
Wkng

z
C. Private Self-Consciousnessand Negative-Affectivity
ElHUiL
The link between NA' ard PSC' can be seen in the
research conducted by several researchers, ([ll], [15],
[29]), who established a correlation between self-focused
-
Awarenessof Others disposition, as measured by the PSC subscale, and
depression, as measured by the Depression Inventory
or of an developed by Beck [l]. The research of Halsten and Stokes
ethical dik-1 [SI implied a strong correlation between anxiety

Negative
Affectivity
-
'
Derrial
of
ResponsiMii
-
Iresponsibihty
experiencesand NA

D. Negative-Mectivity and Locus -of-Control

Internal LOC~ refers to the generalized

abiky to act
and the probab
autcomes of acti
Rhcal
JUdament
Fig 1. Harrington revised ethical decision makingmoc 1.
III. A Closer Look At The Independent Variables And
Hypotheses OfThe Study
A. Mective-Cognitive Relationships
An individual's attitude can promote a consistent
behavior. Attitudes that are characterized by affechve-
cognitive consistency have greater stability than less
consistent attitudes and maintain greater validity as
predictors of subsequent behavior [24]. Norman [21]
identified the sh-uctural characteristics of the attitude
which consistently controlled a subject's behavior to
conform to others in attitude-relevantbehavior.
45
expectancy that life experiences are contingent upon one's
actions. Likewise, external control refers to generalized
expectancies that life experiences are not contingent upon
one's own behavior but are determined by luck, fate or the
actions other people. Singer & Antrobus [26] reported that
negative feelings produced ip fear of failure in situations
where individuals were asked to focus on past unsuccessful
events. Additional research suggested that belief in the
uncontrollability of a situation encourages negative
feelings to develop and ultimately results in abnormal
attempts to control the outcome [7l,[19].
E. Negative-Affectivityand Denial-of-Responsibility
Fazio, Powell & Herr [5] and Fazio [4] developed an
attitude-behavior model which hypothesized that attitudes
determine what an individual perceives in a situation and
how they will react. When you combine NA with DoR4,
* Negative-Mectivity (NA) bas been defined as a stable
and pervasive individual Werence characterized by a
disposition to experience aversive emotional states [30].
' Private self-consciousness PSC) refers to the
dispositional tendency to be attentive to the private, covert
aspects of oneself [6].
Lucus-of-control (Lot) concerns the expectancies of
individualsregarding the causes for their expeiriences [20].
Denial-of-responsibility @OR) refers to the tendency to
attribute responsibility for the act and its consequences
toward or away from the individual [25].
individuals feel that they have little control over a situation
and it is easy to shift blame to someone else or have
someone else assume responsibility.
F. Other-Directednessand Moral Perspective
Moral values instilled in an individual will ultimately
guide decisions in accordance with established standards
and precepts of good behavior. As an individual interacts
with society, there is a tendency to look to society for
reinforcement or support of these morals. When an
individual looks to society for direction in making a
judgment and adheres to the principles, standards or
qualities considered worthwhile or desirable (other-
directedness), he will in all good conscience attempt to do
what is right (moral perspective). Individuals who are
high in OD make decisions without consulting with
societies values and may not behave in acmrdance with
their moral judgments, whereas those low in OD are more
likely to behave in accordance with their moral judgments
11281, 1121-
IV.Hypotheses
Regression analysis was employed to determine the
probable form of the relationship between the variables.
The objective of this statistical test was to estimate the
value of one variable corresponding to a given value of
another variable.
Hmthesis 1: Ethical judgment is related to knowledge of
demographic factors. The demographic factors were age,
education,job, and status.
EB = %U+ alAGE + a2EDUCATION + A3JOB +
&STATUS
Hmthesis 2: Ethical judgment is related to knowledge of
an individual’s inherent characte12stic of negative
affectivity and denial of responsibility
EB = &U + alNA + a2DOR
Hmthesis 3: Ethical judgment is related to knowledge of
an individual’s inherent characteristic of negative-
affectivity and external locus-ofantrol.
EB = &U -i-alNA + a2LW
Hwthesis 4: Ethical judgment is related to knowledge of
an individual’s inherent characteristic of other-
directedness and moral perspective.
EB = %U + alOD + a2Mp
Harrington did not hypothesize relationshps: (1)
between other-directedness and moral perspective, (2)
46
between negative-affectivity and denial-of-responsibility,
and (3) between negative-affectivity and locus-of-control
affecting computer-related ethical judgments.
Hanington’s [9] research concluded with the revised
model that this researcher used test the relationship of each
individual characteristic to its corresponding decision
making step. The revised model is shown in Fig. 1.
V. Method
A total of 170 university students comprised of
u n d e r m e and graduate college level business students
enrolled in a computer Course from two different
universities were administered a survey. The survey was
administered by the researcher, complete anominity of the
respondent was maintained. For data entry purposes only,
class meeting time, course number and institution were
noted on the back of all completed surveys by the
researcher.
In total, 88 questions were used to measure the
independent and dependent variables. Questions 1-10 were
specifically used to measure other-directedness and were
taken from a self-monitoring scale [27. Questions 11-38
were specifically used to measure denial of responsibility
and were taken from an instrument developed for
normative explanations of an individual’s helping behavior
[25]. Questions 39-49 were used to measure locus-of-
control and were taken from an instrument developed by
Collins [3]. Questions 5067 comprise individual items
that were used to measure rule and role orientation for
moral perspective. These were taken from an i n s m e n t
designed by Kelman and Hamilton [121. Survey questions
68-88 were written from the Levin and Stokes [16] NAS
scale designed to assess the global disposition of negative-
affectivity. The five scenarios account for the remaining
57 questions. The scenarios were taken from the
Harrington [9]instrument. The researcher made minor
changes in wording to each scenario for clarification of a
situation and some questions were moditied to better
iden* the indepndent and dependent variables.
VI. Results
The total sample of 170 university students was
obtained f!rom university A and university B. University A
is a private Christian liberid arts institution located in
Ohio. University B has grown from a small denominational
college founded in 1970 to a major state university located
in Ohio. The summarized characteristics of the Sample
from the population of business students attending both
university A and university B are represented in table 1.
 The study hypothesized that different factors influence
an individual's moral judgments and intentions regarding
computer abuse to act ethically or unethically. The
individual's intent to perform the computer abuse was
found to be a function of negative-affectivity and
interaction of the individual facton of other-directedness,
moral perspective and denial-of-responsibility. Table 2
summarizes the hypotheses with figures generated from the
statistical analysis.
Multiple regression and correlational analysis was
employed as a tool to test the strength of the relationship
between the variables. Although the R2 values may
initially appear somewhat low, they are comparable to the
existing ethics research of Harringtsn [9]. The R ' values
explain how much of the relationship between the
independent and dependent variables could be accounted
for.
A signifcant finding is that negative-affktivity is an
important individual characteristic in all forms of
computer related ethical judgments. It alone counts for
.OS% of the variance found in specific judgments.
To ascertain the magnitude of the contribution of each
of the independent demogmphic variables to the total
variation, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was
implemented Race, nationality, marital status and
education were analyzed using one-way analysis of
variance. Gender, employment,, and knowledge of
computer ethics was analyzed using t-tests for independent
samples. Table 3 SummafiZesthese results.
In most instances the computed value of F was not
greater than the critical value of F which was dependent on
the .05 sigmiicance level. Race, nationality, marital status,
employment, and education were the only factors that
indicated a difference in making an ethical-related
decision.
VII. Limitations
The results are limited to the reliability and
validity of the questionnaire. The results are limited to the
time the study took place. The d t s are limited to the
honesty of the participants. The results are limited to the
perceptions of the participants.
VIII. Discussion and Conclusion
The Hanington [9] ethical decision making model can
be revised to reflect the interaction of the individual
characteristics: (1) of moral perspective and other-
47
directedness, (2) of negative-af€ectivity and denial-of-
responsibility, and (3) of negative-affativity and locus-of-
control. The hypotheses tested did offer evidence in
support of the model.
Moral perspective and other-directedness showed a
correlation in support of the premise that these
characteristics usually af€ect ethical judgment. Other-
directedness and moral perspective were important
characteristics for committing acts of sabotage, hacking
spreading viruses and fraud Surprisingly,the relationship
between other-directedness and moral perspective was not
supported in the area of copying software. The responses
following the story on software copying indicated that the
practice is perceived as widespread and acceptable.
The general hypothesis written to test the relationship
between negative-af€dvity and denial-of-responsibility
was supported. Behavior activated by feelings of negativity
increases feelings for denial-of-responsibility. The feeling
that everyone else is doing it or just giving into peer
pressure may explain the rationale for committing
computer sabotage, hacking fraud, illegal s o h a r e
copying, and spreading viruses.
The hypothesis written to test the relationship between
negative-afFectivity and locus-of-control was supported.
Individuals with feelings of negative-affectivity may make
more unrealistic appraisals of their experiences and be
unwilling to rationalize their dissatisfaction with a
situation. Negative-affectivity and internal locus-of control
affects the importance an individual may have in
controllingthe outcome of a situation.
The characteristics of negative-affectivity and internal
locussfcontrol did not mnfirm that possessing negative
feelings toward business was 8 reason for rationalizing that
computer hacking would be amptable b e h i o r . The
results of this hypothesis was surprising in that it did not
support earlier findings that showed the negative feelings
that develop between management and employees often
result in the employee finding a way to get even with
management. However, m y of the participants in this
survey were college students about to enter the work force
looking for a full-time position in their chosen profession.
Demographics, in general, had little relatiomhip to the
responses in the instrument. Education and job tenure
were correlated with locus-of-control andl deniai-of-
responsibility. Higher levels of education would prepare
an individual to take control of a situation by devising
solutions and evaluating the outcome of each one before
implementing. The longer an individual is on a job, the
greater the likelihood that he will experience a situation
where he could use the organizations’ resources to his
benefit and rationalize the act. These findings suggest
continued education programs for employees over the term
of employment.

48
Table 1 Demographics for the Respondents Table 2
-egory biveasity A Universky B Total Summary of Hypotheses Related to the Main Hypothesis
( N a (N=72) (N=I70) R2 P Analysis
Gender: Male 51 42 93 - U-. Ethical i u h e n t is relatedto 5 ofthe 7 factors indicated a
Female 42 26 68 knowle&eof demographic
*Iu' diEerenm (Reference
Non-responsive 5 4 9 factors. Table 3)
Race: White 83 62 145 H G ~ Ethical judgment is relatedto .0854 .0006 Supported
Black 5 4 9 knowledge of an mdividual's
Hispanic 1 0 1 inherent &aradaiStic of NA
mer 5 0 5 and DOR
Non-responsive 4 6 lo H G ~ J3hical judgment is related to ,0716 .0020 Supported
Nationality: American 86 57 143 knowledge of an individual's
Chinese 3 4 7 inherent &araderiStic of NA
Japanese 0 0 0 and intemal LOC.
Korean 4 0 4 H G 4 Ethicaljudgmentis relatedto .1619 .OOOO Supported
other 2 6 8 knowledge of an mdividual's
Non-responsive 3 5 8 inherat charaderistic of OD
Marital status: Sinde 57 37 94 and MP.
&ed 33 28 61
Widowed 0 0 0
Divorced 4 3 7 The results of this survey will provide insight into what
Non-response 4 4 8 inherent characteristic would be predominant within each
Employed: Yes 58 51 log person in every situation. Individuals could then be taught
No 35 14 49
Non-responsive 5 7 12 how to take control of those negative feelings and turn an
Education:Some College 57 34 91 adverse situation into something over which they can assert
Badelor Degree 26 27 53 control.
-Degree 10 6 16
Non-responsive 5 5 10
Ethics course:Yes 4 0 4 Technological innovations are developing at a rate
No 90 67 157 faster than what codes of ethics or the legal system can
Non-response 4 5 9
address. Currently a number of issues need attention.
Among these are intellectual property, privacy, computer
According to the responses to this survey, nearly 93%
crime, and computer security. Enunciating a code is just
of the respondents reported never taking a course in
the first but most important step in acknowledging the
computer ethics. Any instructor who wants to instill a
issues. The code should be easy to understand and direct
sense of ethical use of computers in students might address
yet intuitively address the characteristics identified with
the topics of spreading viruses, sabotage, h a b g , fraud,
the decision making process. For example, a written code
and illegal sohare copying. The ethical decision making
that states a person shall not intentionally cause harm to
model and its corresponding indiviw characteristics will
another individual's data incorporates negative-affectivity
prove helpful in getting everyone to see a situation fiom
and deniahf-wponsibility. A code written that states a
the same perspective. Instructcm of computer ethics
courses could compose scenarios similar to the ones posed person should not misrepresent themself to another
individual for illegal gains incowrates other-directedness
in this study and ask students to compose an answer to
and moral perspective. A code written to deal with the
each one. In the discussion between the instructor and the
issue of illegally copying software could state that an
students that would follow, detailed lists of perceived
negative features with each scenario would be collected
individual shall not copy software without proper authority
would address negative-af€ectivity and locus-of-control.
Table 3
Analvsis Summarv of Demomvhic Variables
c 0 G m VARIABLES
INDEPENDENTVARIABLES DOR LOC MP NA FRAUD HACKING
.674 .773 .126 .579 .560 .738
.001' .942 .381 .026* .079 .614
Nationality .005' .166 .529 .038* .165 .360
Maritalstatus .287 .125 .026* .152 .ooo* .288
Employment .401 .149 .819 .091 .794 .037* .262
Education .125 .041' .678 .157 .159 .030* .155
.221 .207 .609 .491 .436 .712 .690
Note. * Indicates a detected difference.

49
 The results of this study have identified the
characteristics that individuals possess and use in making
ethical decisions. These characteristics should be taken
into consideration when establishing policies outlining
acceptable use of technology within the company.
Knowing what characteristics are important within
individuals when posed with certain ethical situations that
ultimately guide their judgment might prove beneficial to
employers screening candidates for employment within the
company. Through the use of the ethical decision making
model in identiEjing the enduring characteristics correlated
with decision making we may be able to understand the
thought processes of the computer abuser.
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X. BIOGRAPHY
Cheryl Welch, PhD. Graduated with a master’s degree
from Ashland University in Asbland, Ohio and obtained a
Ph.D. focusing on secondafy education from the University
of Akron in Akron, Ohio. She teaches credit courses in
business computer programming at both institutions and is
actively involved in developing and presenting courses for
continuing education to local business and industry.