Ethics in the Digital Age as a Principle of Professional Conduct

Abstract

Ethics in the digital era, as a principle of professional behaviour, has become increasingly important and is seen as a future concern with the development and technological progress in this era of digital transformation. The aim of this research was to integrate the collected studies on the evolution of ethics in the technological field as well as the implications provided in those researches where ethics applied to the field of technology and communication need a rigorous and systematic handling. The methodology used presented a qualitative, descriptive, and documentary approach, analysing the relationship between technology and the importance of ethics in the professional field. The research is supported by Kitchenham’s systematic literature review method, which allows evidence of the behaviour of professionals who use information technologies as part of their daily performance. In view of this finding, it is concluded that technology must apply a principle of responsibility with the aim of benefiting society and not just the scientific field, as a support for ethics to raise awareness among stakeholders about informed consent and professional codes of conduct, which are unknown in most of the technological fields.

1. Introduction

Ethics in the digital age is fundamental for any professional working with information technologies and is considered a philosophical discipline that emphasises ideal human behaviour, especially in the use of IT tools that can cause a social impact on issues such as patents, copyright, cyber warfare, privacy, intellectual property, freedom of expression, and security. Professionals need to consider not only the technical aspects but also the ethical and moral aspects of their work [1].

Ethics in the field of technology was an event in the early of the 1970s and was an event that had repercussions in the health and technology sectors, due to the implications of invasion of privacy that revealed controversial situations [2, 3], mainly in the United States. As a result, unexpected effects were generated that contributed to the intervention of many professionals who proposed codes of ethics in which rationality and ethical values are adopted with responsibility [4, 5, 6, 7].

In this way, the advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have demonstrated their vertiginous growth, whose management of digital information provides and allows the management of a large amount of data where the legal and moral aspects are confronted [8, 9], generating a debate on the regulation of aspects of interest between the parties involved; it is necessary to protect the privacy of users, guarantee the security of information, be transparent in their practises, and take responsibility for their actions.

The aim of this research was to qualitatively analyse the integration of the collected studies on the development of ethics in the technological field, as well as the implications provided in these researches, where ethics applied to the field of technology and communication needs a rigorous and systematic management with clear boundaries between work, learning, and leisure [2], with an emphasis on justice, humility, and professional secrecy.

The problem arises from the fact that the principles of human behaviour, namely honesty, truth-seeking, community welfare, and the environment, are assumed to be the expectations of values that are expected to be found in individuals [3]. IT professionals often have a responsibility to ensure that their practises are ethical and transparent. However, in some cases, it can be difficult to determine who is responsible and how ethical practises should be communicated to users, leading to the research question. What problems arise when ICT ethics are not applied in a professional context?

The approach of this research was qualitative, and the design was non-experimental, as no variables were manipulated. The entire study was based on the SLR (Systematic Literature Review), which was the study tool and was based on Barbara Kitchenham’s methodology, applying Cochrane’s PRISMA model [10, 11, 12]. As part of the protocol used for this systematic literature review, articles were retrieved from databases such as Scielo, Dialnet, Redalyc, Lilacs, and Researchgate, and search engines such as Google Scholar and Redib. Descriptors, such as “ethics in technologies and communication” and “ethics in digital environments,” from English and Spanish sources were used to search for articles.

In addition, the research was descriptive because it explained the reasons for the object of study and cross-sectional because articles from different time periods were analysed for the prevalence of the variable “ethics.” It is situated in the field of technology, which is in line with the qualitative approach, with secondary sources of information gathering and providing a summary of a specific topic that answers the research question [11].

The use of SL made it possible to synthesise articles by other authors (primary studies), where the evidence of contributions with similar characteristics was analysed and compared in a short time, guaranteeing validity and veracity. In addition to having methodological quality and reproducibility of results, this type of review must be objective, rigorous, and meticulous [11, 12]. The population we worked with was based on selected articles that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria explained in the design phase, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Record selection flowchart. PRISMA model.

2. Results

It is worth mentioning that the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct was created with the intention of guiding and inspiring the conduct of computer professionals, as well as any person related to technology, by establishing ethical principles to guide professional conduct in the field of computing and information technology, whose performance generates an impact on society [2, 13].

By virtue of this, Figure 1 shows the number of selected primary studies that evidence the approach towards codes of conduct and ethics in the professional field that manifests the opinions or criteria of citizens, such as weaknesses and the absence of values; mismanagement of information; a lack of guarantees in legal security, which are prone to being devalued; and clear behaviours of manipulation of fraudulent activities [7].

2.1 Data collection and analysis

The way in which the information was evaluated and interpreted was through the systematic review of the literature, because it facilitates and summarises the content of the selected articles according to inclusion and exclusion criteria and that complies with describing a transparent and comprehensible process of collection and selection of multiple articles as well as sources of information, considering qualitative aspects of primary studies with the intention of synthesising the data in terms of ethics in this era of digital transformation [13, 14].

From the results obtained when carrying out an SLR, the problems of ethics in the economy, health, and professional fields are evident, whose characterisation is represented in Tables 1 and 2, which show how each author emphasises certain characteristics or infallible qualities that are related to ethics in the professional field, correlating the different alternatives and behaviours to determine the codes with which professionals currently develop.

Code	Behaviour
A	Objectivity
B	Practical discipline
C	Basic moral principles
D	Honesty
E	Strictness
F	Community welfare
G	Justice
H	Professional Secrecy
I	Privacy of Information
J	Integridad
K	Transparency
L	Informed consent
M	Abuse of power
N	Responsibility

Table 1.

Behavioural codes.

Authors	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N
[1]			X
[2]							X				X	X		X
[3]	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
[4]			X	X				X			X	X		X
[5]	X					X	X	X						X
[6]						X
[7]						X
[8]				X					X			X
[9]						X
[10]				X								X		X
[11]				X								X		X

Table 2.

Characterisation of expected behaviours of an ethical nature.

It is worth mentioning that there are few studies related to this issue of ethics applied to the era of digital transformation, but it is necessary to distinguish between the intention to deceive and the error as a result that can affect the degree of trust between collaborators or members of work teams. Likewise, most authors propose basic ethical principles that integrate the principles of respect and helping others, incorporating ethics [15].

On the other hand, the Organisation of American States has a Programme for the Education of Values, which calls for the socialisation of the content of attitudes and norms in order to develop new constructs, with a focus on human rights that promote harmony in all participants [13], situations that are little disseminated in some areas. Its aim is to promote education in democratic values and civic ethics in the Americas, and it has a series of specific objectives to achieve this goal.

3. Conclusions

From the evidence presented, it can be concluded that technology needs to apply a principle of responsibility with the aim of benefiting society and not just the scientific field. To support ethics, stakeholders need to be made aware of informed consent and professional codes of conduct, which are unknown in most technological fields. Professionals should be made aware that their work should be guided by ethical and moral standards and carried out without having negative effects on users.

Finally, it is recommended that for future studies the search for articles not be limited to a single language, as international sources are an important support when searching for other publications, and there are several areas of research in this field, such as ethical frameworks for emerging technologies, cybersecurity, ethical regulation, artificial intelligence. As a limitation, we mention the scarcity of information found on the web at a local level that would allow the analysis of intervention groups from the same cohort.