9 Information Technology and Ethics
• Information technology (IT) refers to the Internet and new forms of social media.
Social Media and Ethics
• Social media refers to the advanced Internet technology and applications that have
largely enabled collaboration among Internet users.
• Three forms of privacy information:
o Institution specific personal information: medical and financial information.
• To address ethical implications for employee use of social media, experts suggest the
following:
o Employees should be made aware that companies constantly monitor their social
media postings for legitimate and business reasons.
• Information transparency refers to the process of making information explicitly and
openly available to concerned stakeholders.
• How can companies use social media and IT to implement information transparency
policies?
o First, the Internet and social media can be used as a repository of critical
information.
• Suggestions for companies to develop programs to address social media use:
o Be transparent and truthful.
Electronic Commerce and Ethics
• Electronic commerce (E-commerce) refers to the selling and trading of goods and
services over the Internet.
• Two forms of online transactions:
Customer Privacy
• Customer privacy refers to the expectations that customers can protect their personal
information.
E-Commerce Security
• E-commerce security refers to the degree to which stakeholders feel that the data
collected online by companies is safe.
• Things that a company needs to be concerned about with e-commerce security:
o Confidentiality: ensuring that private information is protected and such
information is not made available to unauthorized parties.
• Suggestions to ensure e-commerce security:
o Conduct an inventory of data and keeping only data that is needed.
o Create data management policies and train employees on such policies.
o Create contingency plan.
E-Commerce Trust
• Three main components of e-commerce trust:
1. Trust in the Internet
• The factors that promote e-commerce trust in a company:
o Previous transaction experience
o Disposition to trust
o Perceived security protection
Ethics and Global E-Commerce and the Global Digital Divide
• Two ways companies can approach operations in other countries:
o A universal lens that is doing the same thing in all countries
o A relativist approach that is responding to local cultures and customs
• Two of the most important ways companies build trust:
o Reputable website affiliation: unknown website affiliating itself with a more
reputable website to build online trust
▪ Suitable for individualistic cultures such as the U.S.
• High-context cultures communicate extensively using non-verbals such as body language
and silence and gestures.
o Japan, Arab countries, Greece, Spain, Italy, etc.
Electronic Waste
• E-waste refers to the waste stream that occurs as a result of a company’s use of
information technology.
• Efforts for companies to reduce e-waste:
o More companies are experimenting with ways to reduce their IT-related energy
use.
o Companies are also analyzing their data to maintain only what is necessary.