Establishing the Influences of Cardinal Virtues on Employees’ Cyber Security Ethical Behavior in the Banking Sector in Uganda

Purpose: Cyber security threats emanating from employees’ incorrect behavior have escalated in the banking sector. Yet formal policies and technical solutions have failed to solve the problem. Virtue ethics may be a method that can handle this concern. This research aimed at enhancing Cyber security by confirming through statistical analysis the applicability of cardinal virtues related to cyber security ethical behavior. Methodology: The quantitative survey method utilizing an online questionnaire was used. Confirmatory factor analysis determined causal patterns in the variables and assessed them for validity and reliability. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was then used to test casual relations between the study’s constructs. Findings: The results reveal that there is a positive but an insignificant effect of prudence Beta 0.094. p = 0.277 on cyber security ethical behavioral Intentions; there is a positive and significant influence of Temperance; Beta 0.255, p = .000; a positive and significant influence of courage; Beta 0.247, p = .001; on cyber security ethical behavior, that there is a positive and significant influence of Justice; Beta 0.452, p = .000; on cyber security ethical behavioral Intentions. The results further showed that a positive change in ethical behavior intentions leads to a positive change in cyber security ethical behavior. Unique contribution to theory and practice: This research makes a theoretical contribution to Cyber security ethics by promoting virtue ethics as a framework for moral investigations into Cyber security. Results can be utilized to improve methods, instruments, and tools to assess the employees’ cyber security ethical behavior. Policy makers can develop virtue ethical based training programs with dedicated, continuous learning and teaching undertakings geared towards monitoring and enhancing the overall ethical behavior towards cyber security in the banks. The results are a platform to the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of ICT in generating appropriate national policies related to Cyber security ethics as a strategy aimed at improving Cyber security in the banking sector.

A Deeper Look at Autonomous Vehicle Ethics: An Integrative Ethical Decision-Making Framework to Explain Moral Pluralism

The autonomous vehicle (AV) is one of the first commercialized AI-embedded robots to make autonomous decisions. Despite technological advancements, unavoidable AV accidents that result in life-and-death consequences cannot be completely eliminated. The emerging social concern of how an AV should make ethical decisions during unavoidable accidents is referred to as the moral dilemma of AV, which has promoted heated discussions among various stakeholders. However, there are research gaps in explainable AV ethical decision-making processes that predict how AVs’ moral behaviors are made that are acceptable from the AV users’ perspectives. This study addresses the key question: What factors affect ethical behavioral intentions in the AV moral dilemma? To answer this question, this study draws theories from multidisciplinary research fields to propose the “Integrative ethical decision-making framework for the AV moral dilemma.” The framework includes four interdependent ethical decision-making stages: AV moral dilemma issue framing, intuitive moral reasoning, rational moral reasoning, and ethical behavioral intention making. Further, the framework includes variables (e.g., perceived moral intensity, individual factors, and personal moral philosophies) that influence the ethical decision-making process. For instance, the framework explains that AV users from Eastern cultures will tend to endorse a situationist ethics position (high idealism and high relativism), which views that ethical decisions are relative to context, compared to AV users from Western cultures. This proposition is derived from the link between individual factors and personal moral philosophy. Moreover, the framework proposes a dual-process theory, which explains that both intuitive and rational moral reasoning are integral processes of ethical decision-making during the AV moral dilemma. Further, this framework describes that ethical behavioral intentions that lead to decisions in the AV moral dilemma are not fixed, but are based on how an individual perceives the seriousness of the situation, which is shaped by their personal moral philosophy. This framework provides a step-by-step explanation of how pluralistic ethical decision-making occurs, reducing the abstractness of AV moral reasoning processes.

The effects of length of service and ethical ideologies on moral development and behavioral intentions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of length of service and ethical ideologies on cognitive moral development (CMD) and ethical behavioral intentions among public sector tax auditors in Brazil. Design/methodology/approach The research data were collected via survey questionnaires from a sample of 625 auditors who work for the Brazilian tax authority. Participants voluntarily complete an online instrument which included three scenarios with context-specific moral dilemmas, questions about the specific scenarios and an ethics position questionnaire. Multinomial logistic and ordinary least squares regressions were used to analyze the data. Findings The findings reveal that public sector tax auditors with shorter length of service are more likely to be at higher stages of moral development; relativistic ideology among public sector auditors is positively associated with more lenient ethical behavioral intention; idealistic ideology among public sector auditors is positively associated with stricter ethical behavioral intention; public sector auditors classified as absolutists are stricter in their ethical behavioral intentions; and public sector auditors classified as absolutists with length of service between 5 and 15 years are more likely to be at higher stages of moral development when compared to public sector tax auditors with longer length of service. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the study is one of the first studies that attempt to understand the effects of length of service and ethical ideology on CMD and ethical behavioral intention among public sector auditors. Additionally, it examines these issues in the context of Latin America.

Individual Difference Variables, Ethical Judgments, and Ethical Behavioral Intentions

This study examined the relationship between the individual difference variables of personal moral philosophy, locus of control, Machiavellianism, and just world beliefs and ethical judgments and behavioral intentions. A sample of 602 marketing practitioners participated in the study. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypothesized relationships. The results either fully or partially supported hypothesized direct effects for idealism, relativism, and Machiavellianism. Findings also suggested that Machiavellianism mediated the relationship between individual difference variables and ethical judgments/behavioral intentions.