In The Eye Of The Beholder: Moral Disengagement And Ethical Decision Making Among Information Systems Professionals

Abstract

The field of information systems is beset with ethically challenging situations (i.e., monitoring, information use, information disclosure) and yet research is only beginning to examine the variables that influence the IS professional’s ethical decision making.  This paper proposes the application of moral disengagement, which is defined as an individual difference found to influence ethical intentions (Bandura, 1986), to the ethical decision making model proposed by Rest (1986).   The specific research question is as follows:  Does the moral disengagement of information system professionals influence the relationship between their judgments and their intentions?  A series of propositions will be developed which argue that individual levels of the various disengagement dimensions will moderate the relationship between the moral judgments and the morel intentions of the IS professional.