A survey of ethics and regulation within the ICT industry in Australia: Ethics education

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a preliminary analysis of age and gender across a number of questions asked in a survey of ethical attitudes of professionals in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in Australia. While a large number of demographic questions regarding ethics and regulation, only those concerning age and gender are examined here. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was conducted of the ICT workplace in Australia. The results were analyzed using SPSS. Findings There are some significant differences across the generations as well between the genders. Gen Y is different when compared to the others on how important ethical regulations ought to be. Gen Y thinks that ethical regulations ought to be less important. When gender was examined it was clear that males thought that ethical regulations ought to be significantly less important when compared with what females thought. Research limitations/implications While a larger sample size was desired, the consistency of the replies, when compared against a number of comparative populations, indicated that the replies we received were representative of the ICT workforce. Originality/value This paper raises many issues that demand greater care and attention be given when constructing new models of governing ethics within the Australian ICT workplace.