The ethical behavior of academics regarding informatics: A comparative assessment between state and foundation universities

Abstract

Today's technology advances at such a pace that we can no longer keep up with it. Computers, Internet and communication technologies have brought into our lives some benefits as well as some problems. Ethics and ethical behavior that has been subject to discussion since the old ages have gained a very different dimension with the introduction of the information technologies. New ethical problems have emerged, and ethical values have once more gained importance in the fight against these problems. This research defines the ethics and the informatics ethics briefly and assesses the ethical behavior of academics in state and foundation universities to identify if there is a significant difference of ethical behavior regarding informatics between these two groups. Accepting the universities in the Marmara region as the population, the research takes 154 academics as sampling. At the end of the research, it is concluded that there is a difference between the genders in terms of the information integrity, between the tenures in terms of intellectual property, and between the academic titles in terms of informatics ethic behavior regarding intellectual property and safety and quality.