The Ethical Dimension of Information Technology Workers-An Empirical Study

INTRODUCTION: A THEORY OF MORAL JUDGMENT In his 1932 book The Judgment of the Child, Piaget was able to make major contributions to the understanding of the moral plane by 1 defining the problem area and the theoretical construct of moral judgment, 2 introducing methods for studying a subject's moral judgment, 3 identifying a dozen specific features in children's moral thinking for making inferences about their underlying thought structure, and 4 providing cross-sectional age trend data to support his theories. Piaget's approach offers only a limited characterization of the cognitive structures underlying the verbalizations of many different people; however, it is imperative to the understanding of this subject matter that one recognizes that the study of morality is multifaceted. Piaget, in prioritizing certain phenomena, certain research strategies, and certain questions, supports the notion that no single theory or research approach can adequately diagnose all aspects of the psychology of morality. Lawrence Kohlberg proposed the stage theory (1969) of the development of ethical understanding. The theory insists that individuals pass through six stages of ethical understanding. Each stage is characterized by the way in which the individual conceptualizes social and societal relationships and determines justice. Kohlberg postulated that all individuals pass through these stages, that the order of the stages is invariant, and that no stage could be skipped. He also noted that the stages are universal, meaning that the results of the test should be the same across gender, culture, or other demographic factors (Kohlberg, 1971). Kohlberg then developed a measurement instrument, the Moral Judgment Interview, the result of which should be a determination of the individual's current stage of moral development. This instrument, however, requires an expert interviewer and can only be conducted on an individual basis; it cannot be administered in groups (Fisher and Sweeney, 1998). In 1980, Kohlberg found that esteem-motivated individuals do not submit to group pressure; that is, their moral posture remains quite consistent among differing situations (Colby & Kohlberg, 1984). On the other hand, safety-motivated individuals tend to surrender to group pressure and display irregular moral behaviors (Dejoie, Fowler, & Paradice, 1991). In contrast to Kohlberg's position, numerous cross-sectional studies support claims that moral judgment is developmental. Differences in gender are also prevalent among DIT scores. It is generally believed that females tend not to progress to postconventional morality as often as males because of differential societal pressures on females; however, at younger ages, females are historically more advanced in terms of moral reasoning. (Dejoie, Fowler, & Paradice, 1991). DIT research also indicates that self-esteem may play a relevant part in moral decisions, especially in highly educated individuals. Other studies have used demographic variables, including age, sex, and education level, to predict moral reasoning (Ma & Cheun, 1996). Although many studies either continue to extend or directly replicate Piaget's and Kohlberg's work, three major centers of activity that have contrasting interests have developed from Piaget and Kohlberg's work, outlined below. The latter is the focus of this study. 1 studies focusing on the re-examination of the processes of children and the materials used by Piaget as a stimulus, 2 studies attempting to identify and describe the basic organizational principles of social knowledge of children in early and middle childhood, and 3 research on the Defining Issues Test (DIT). THE DEFINING ISSUES TEST The Defining Issues Test (DIT), developed by James Rest, is multifaceted and requires developing some background so that one can fully grasp the importance of the concept. …