Individual characteristics and ethical decision-making in an IT context

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically test an ethical decision-making model in an information technology (IT) context. The model includes both demographic and personality variables, their direct influence on beliefs and judgments, and their influence on the relationships between beliefs, judgments, and moral intent. Design/methodology/approach – Subjects were assessed on their perceptions of IT ethical scenarios both before and after discussing them with others in a web-based chat room in order to test the research model. Findings – The results show that gender has the most profound effect on ethical decision-making, with ego strength also having a strong effect, while locus of control has a negligible effect. Beliefs and judgments about questionable behavior shifted after (a chat) discussion more for those with low ego strength than those with high ego strength. Originality/value – The results suggest that the relationship among factors that influence ethical decision-making is complex and different factors become more important in determining moral intent for different individuals.