It was very clear from the responses that there were no significant differences in ethical beliefs amongst MBA and MS-CIS graduate students. It should be noted that in both cases the students had not received formal training related to computer ethics within there program of study, though in both cases the topic was covered in sections within their curriculum. The curriculum for the MBA students is changing next year to include a formal course in business ethics that will include information technology related topics.
Though the support was not as strong there was support that significant differences do not exist between undergraduate and graduate computer information systems students. One limitation to our study however, is that there were significantly more male students than female students which may have influenced this result. The undergraduate students that participated in this study had received instruction in information technology ethics as part of their curriculum, including case study analysis.
Based upon the results of our study, we concluded that significant differences existed between male and female computer information systems students in their ethical beliefs. Though as noted previously, there was a small sample population of female students. This is significant because it supports the industry study gender differences that show that software piracy and hacking tend to be more prevalent amongst males than females.
The IS2002 model curriculum [22] recommends that formal instruction in ethics be included in the curriculum of information technology programs. Our research supports that contention.