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1. Introduction
The literature is rich with accounts that highlight the ethical problems facing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) professionals in their workplaces. See, for example, Sherratt et al. (2005), Lucas and Weckert (2008b), Van den Bergh and Deschoolmeester (2010) and Al-Saggaf and Burmeister (2014). There is also a plethora of studies that suggested strategies for solving ethical problems or improving ethical behaviour in the workplace. See, for example, Cappel and Windsor (1998, p. 29), Simpson and Burmeister (1998), Gleason (2002), Bowern et al. (2006), Lucas and Bowern (2007), Johnson (2010), Fleischmann (2010), Ville and Jani (2014) and Burmeister and Al-Saggaf (2014). However, with the exception of Badenhorst (1994) and Fassin (2005), there is hardly any literature on reasons for unethical behaviour in the ICT workplace.
But, even the Badenhorst (1994) and Fassin (2005) studies are not in the context of ICT; they are in the context of business in general. This suggests that there is an obvious gap in the literature relating to factors influencing unethical behaviour in the ICT workplace. Given that Australia’s ICT market is worth nearly AUD $100 billion, there is a need to understand the influence of these factors so that strategies for dealing with unprofessional behaviour not only look at the nature of unprofessional behaviour but also at the root causes of unprofessional behaviour. This article seeks to address this imbalance in the literature, by focussing on the reasons behind unethical behaviour in the Australian ICT workplace as an example.
Qualitative analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews with 43 participants in six Australian capital cities revealed 25 reasons behind unethical behaviour in the Australian ICT workplace. However, only the reasons for which there was at least 30 per cent agreement between interviewees are highlighted in this article. Five reasons met this criterion, namely, pressure, bad management, greed, lack of respect for ICT people and communications issues, and these are detailed in the empirical findings section of this article.
In the discussion, the consideration of an integrity system as a starting point for avoiding the situations that could lead to unethical behaviour is proposed. It is argued that an integrity system will afford certain ethical behaviour while discouraging unethical behaviour. Affordance in the context of an integrity system will encourage...