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This study aims to examine the potential of Information Ethics (IE) to serve as a coherent ethical foundation for the library and information science profession (LIS profession).

This study consists of two parts: the first part present IE’s central theses and the main critiques it has received; the second part offers the authors' own evaluation of the theory from the LIS perspective in two steps: (1) assessing its internal consistency by testing its major theses against each other; (2) assessing its utility for resolving frequently debated LIS ethical dilemmas by comparing its solutions with solutions from other ethical theories.

This study finds that IE, consisting of an informational ontology, a fundamental ethical assertion and a series of moral laws, forms a coherent ethical framework and holds promising potential to serve as a theoretical foundation for LIS ethical issues; its inclusion of nonhuman objects as moral patients and its levels of abstraction mechanism proved to be particularly relevant for the LIS profession. This study also shows that, to become more solid an ethical theory, IE needs to resolve some of its internal contradictions and ambiguities, particularly its conceptual conflations between internal correctness, rightness and goodness; between destruction, entropy and evil; and the discrepancy between its deontological ethical assertion and its utilitarian moral laws.

This study alerts LIS professionals to the possibility of having a coherent ethical foundation and the potential of IE in this regard.

This study provides a systemic explication, evaluation and field test of IE from the LIS perspective.

Upon graduating from university, many engineers will work in new product development and/or technology adoption for continuous improvement and production optimization. These jobs require employees to be cognizant of ethical practices and implications for design. However, little engineering coursework, outside the traditional ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) required Engineering Ethics course, accounts for the role of ethics within this process. Because of this, engineering students have few learning opportunities to practice and reflect on ethical decision-making.

This paper highlights one approach to integrating ethics into an engineering course (outside of engineering ethics). Specifically, the study is implemented within a five-week module with a focus on big data ethics, as part of a Supply Chain Management Technology course (required for Industrial Engineering Technology majors), using metacognition as the core assessment.

Four main themes were identified through the qualitative data analysis of the metacognitive reflections: (1) overreliance on content knowledge, (2) time management skills, (3) career connections and (4) knowledge extensions.

Three notable points emerged which contribute to the literature. First, this study showcased one example of how an ethics module can be integrated into an engineering course (other than Engineering Ethics). Second, this study demonstrated how metacognitive reflections can be used to reinforce student self-awareness of the learning process and connections to big data ethics in the workplace. Finally, this study exhibited how metacognitive reflection assignments can be deployed as a teaching and learning assessment tool, providing an opportunity for the instructor to make immediate changes as needed.

Technological expansion and adoption in university libraries have precipitated cybercrimes and the need to equip library personnel with the required knowledge to combat this menace. Consequently, this study aims to examine cyber security in university libraries and its implication for Library and Information Science education.

The study adopted descriptive research design, while questionnaire and interview were used to elicit data from library personnel and heads of library schools, respectively. A total of 134 responses were elicited through structured questionnaire (administered online due to the closure of universities) while six heads of library schools were interviewed, one from each of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.

The data from the questionnaire which were descriptively analysed revealed that the perceived knowledge of cyber security among the librarians was moderately low. Also, the university libraries were exposed to various cyber threats, with cyber security/guideline been one of the critical measures to combat cybercrime. Also, the result showed that librarians displayed high level of adherence to cyber ethics. However, the disposition of library management towards cyber security issues was revealed to be the main challenge to the deployment of cyber security in university libraries, follow by poor password management. Majority of the librarians possess basic knowledge of cyber security, though with serious interest to learn more about it. They were not taught cyber security in library school and they indicated enthusiasm to learn about it. The result of the interview with heads of library schools showed majority of these schools do not offer cyber security course due to dearth in skilled manpower.

The study presents cybercrime as a menace, if not tackled, would affect the university libraries’ sustainability as information institution, compromising their ability to deliver quality services.

Deepfake information poses more ethical risks than traditional disinformation in terms of fraud, slander, rumors and other malicious uses. However, owing to its high entertainment value, deepfake information with ethical risks has become popular. This study aims to understand the role of ethics and entertainment in the acceptance and regulation of deepfake information.

Mixed methods were used to qualitatively identify ethical concerns and quantitatively evaluate the influence of ethical concerns and perceived enjoyment on the ethical acceptability and social acceptance of deepfake information.

The authors confirmed that informed consent, privacy protection, traceability and non-deception had a significantly positive impact on ethical acceptability and indirectly influenced social acceptance, with privacy protection being the most sensitive. Perceived enjoyment impacts the social acceptance of deepfake information and significantly weakens the effect of ethical acceptability on social acceptance.

The ethical concerns affecting acceptance behavior identified in this study provide an entry point for the ethical regulation of deepfake information. The weakening effect of perceived enjoyment on ethics serves as a wake-up call for regulators to guard against pan-entertainment deepfake information.

However, while the benefits of adopting virtual work structures have been extensively discussed, ethical considerations have been largely ignored in the existing literature. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate the key ethical issues associated with virtual workplaces. It also aimed to examine the various preventive measures that could be considered for effectively managing such challenges.

The study adopted an inductive research approach using qualitative methodology. Data was collected by executing the technique of dual moderator focus group discussion. By using the purposive sampling technique, the sample comprised 24 software professionals from emerging economies such as India. All sessions were transcribed, and the data were analysed using the content analysis method.

The study reports some interesting results related to various ethical issues and the preventive measures to handle such issues in virtual workplaces. The themes that emerged related to ethical issues have been categorised into three broad categories, i.e. People, Technology and Culture. In contrast, preventive measures have been reported in both contexts, i.e. pre-preventive and post-preventive measures. Furthermore, few recommendations have been made to improve virtual work experiences for remote work professionals. The identified themes and categories were classified and arranged in “Network View”, a feature embedded in Atlas.ti7 software, to analyse the conceptual relationships.

The findings may help managers regarding various ethical issues in virtual work settings. It may also provide an insight to the managers about the benefits of adopting preventive measures for handling ethical dilemmas in virtual workplaces in an emerging economy like India.

The study may be seen as one of the earliest attempts to consider the lingering debate on ethics in virtual workplaces. The findings of the study have implications for further theoretical research on the topic.

Cybersecurity vulnerabilities are often due to human users acting according to their own ethical priorities. With the goal of providing tailored training to cybersecurity professionals, the authors conducted a study to uncover profiles of human factors that influence which ethical principles are valued highest following exposure to ethical dilemmas presented in a cybersecurity game.

The authors’ game first sensitises players (cybersecurity trainees) to five cybersecurity ethical principles (beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, autonomy and explicability) and then allows the player to explore their application in multiple cybersecurity scenarios. After playing the game, players rank the five ethical principles in terms of importance. A total of 250 first-year cybersecurity students played the game. To develop profiles, the authors collected players' demographics, knowledge about ethics, personality, moral stance and values.

The authors built models to predict the importance of each of the five ethical principles. The analyses show that, generally, the main driver influencing the priority given to specific ethical principles is cultural background, followed by the personality traits of extraversion and conscientiousness. The importance of the ingroup was also a prominent factor.

Cybersecurity professionals need to understand the impact of users' ethical choices. To provide ethics training, the profiles uncovered will be used to build artificially intelligent (AI) non-player characters (NPCs) to expose the player to multiple viewpoints. The NPCs will adapt their training according to the predicted players’ viewpoint.

This study aims to investigate on access and communication of COVID-19 information among Tanzanians.

Quantitative methods were applied to identify a total of 636 respondents.

Results show that the majority (86.9%) of respondents seek information on COVID-19. Gender, age, education and marital status did not influence individual’s information-seeking behaviour. Respondents largely used social media, particularly WhatsApp, to communicate. Respondents prefer blending professional and traditional information to combat COVID-19. The majority (51%) of respondents indicated that COVID-19 information was not communicated ethically. Employed people are more likely to ethically communicate information on the pandemic in social media.

Findings imply that novelty of the pandemic has enhanced active information-seeking behaviour. Respondents rely on multiple information sources to seek and collaboratively communicate COVID information. Employment status is associated with respondents’ information-seeking behaviour. Audio-visual sources are mostly preferred and relied in communicating information on the pandemic. Social media usage has enhanced timely and appropriate decision-making measures to tackle the COVID menace. Level of education has an influence on the use of credible sources and ethical communication of information on the pandemic. Utilization of COVID-19 preventive information was not statistically associated with socio-demographic variables. Availability of information infrastructures, particularly the internet, influences access, use and clear informed decision on prevention and treatment of COVID-19 disease.

The study contributes to knowledge and literature on response and preventive measures on COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries.

This study aims to investigate stakeholders' perception of the most prevalent unethical practices in the Ghanaian construction industry.

Data used for this study came from a cross-sectional survey (questionnaire), which was administered to 273 stakeholders in the construction industry using convenience sampling technique. The data were analyzed using statistical software package SPSSv17 to determine the most prevalent unethical practices. The ranking factor was calculated based on relative importance index (RII) value.

The results of this study reveal that corruption was perceived by major stakeholders as the most prevalent unethical behavior (RII = 0.82) followed by bribery (RII = 0.79). Political interference and kickback came third (RII = 0.77) and fourth (RII = 0.74), respectively. However, the least prevalent unethical behaviors were extortion (RII = 0.56), workplace violence (RII = 0.57), alcohol abuse (RII = 0.59) and harassment (RII = 0.59). The findings suggest that when the various groupings were taken into consideration separately, the differences in their perceptions were obvious.

Data for this study were collected from construction stakeholders in Ghana who were conveniently sampled. As a result, in reference to the sampling framework which focused on major stakeholders in only two regions of Ghana does not sufficiently ensure full generalization of the results.

The findings of the study provide significant information for construction organizations and practitioners regarding unethical practices, which are most prevalent in the Ghanaian construction industry. Construction organizations and practitioners seeking to mitigate the negative effect of unethical practices on their performance should focus on educating construction workers on how to avoid corrupt practices and report same to the authorities. Also, ethics training programs must be instituted for staff coupled with constant and random inspection and checking of ethical compliance, verbal promotion and praise for ethical conduct and in some cases increase in employees pay.

This paper is one of the first to have accessed the views of broader stakeholders, i.e. consultants, contractors, professionals, suppliers, regulators, clients and construction workers in the construction industry regarding the most prevalent unethical practices in the Ghanaian construction industry in one study. This study, therefore, enriches the current literature by providing additional dimension to the understanding of unethical practices in the Ghanaian construction industry.

Quality Assurance and Improvement Program (QAIP) is defined as “an ongoing and periodic assessment of the entire spectrum of audit and consulting work performed by the internal audit (IA) activity”. QAIP is an important component of internal auditors’ commitment to improve internal audit (IA) quality. The pressure towards improvement is urgent for central banks, in light of the vulnerabilities of their IA functions identified by the International Monetary Fund. The authors analyse the professional standards and the literature on IA and QAIP, aiming to propose general considerations to enhance IA quality and to develop and maintain a QAIP, with reference to central banks, also shedding light on the synergies among IA, QAIP and total quality management (TQM).

This paper reviews the most relevant professional standards in light of the professional and academic literature regarding IA quality, QAIP and their relationship with TQM. The analysis of these sources represents an important step to identify general measures to improve IA quality and develop effective QAIP in central banks.

This analysis shows that it is important to understand the rationale behind the development of an IA function and its theoretical and practical foundation, especially for complex organisations such as central banks. In addition, the authors show that QAIP represents an important tool to exploit the synergies between TQM and IA. These synergies could result in higher levels of quality for the IA function and more effective implementation of TQM within the whole organisation. Lastly, the authors provide practical suggestions to support the implementation of an effective QAIP in central banks and to spread TQM philosophy within the organisation.

The authors contribute to the scant literature on IA quality and QAIP by focusing on central banks and shedding light on the relationship with TQM. Regardless of their importance, these topics have been largely neglected by the extant literature.

The construction industry is beset with unethical behaviours. Although several studies have investigated the effects of unethical behaviours on project performance, research in the Ghanaian construction industry (GCI) remains scant. Consequently, this research assesses the interactive effects of ethical and unethical behaviours of construction professionals on project performance in the GCI.

A quantitative research approach was used to obtain primary data from 68 construction professionals, viz, quantity surveyors, architects, civil engineers, clerk of works and project managers, via a closed-ended questionnaire survey. Data collected were analysed using one-sample t-test and Kruskal–Wallis test statistics, after which two hypotheses were tested and validated using regression analysis.

Reduction of project risks, avoidance of legal problems and maximisation project quality performance were critical effects of ethical behaviours observed on project performance, whereas the effects of unethical behaviours such as cost overrun, abandonment and time overrun were severe on project performance in the GCI. Ethical behaviour was seen to relate to project performance positively, and unethical behaviour was proved to have dire consequences on project performance.

Construction project performance is greatly influenced by professionals' ethical and unethical behaviours. Emergent findings emanating from this research will assist emerging economies in developing and implementing counter policies and systems that mitigate the unethical behaviours of construction professionals.

The study highlights the effects of ethical and unethical behaviours on project performance to reorient individuals' perceptions that unethical behaviours are less critical in the construction industry. Supporting evidence encourages individuals to adhere to ethical behaviours in a project environment.

The inability to obtain data across the entire geographical spread of Ghana is acknowledged as a major limitation of the study and affects the generalisation of the results.

This study constitutes a first attempt to establish the interactive effects of ethical and unethical behaviours of construction professionals on project performance within the GCI. A significant addition to the body of knowledge is that ethical and unethical behaviours impact project performance positively or negatively, respectively.