The Effects of National Culture on Ethical Decision-Making in the Internet Context : An Exploratory Analysis

Abstract

This paper analyzes the effects of national culture on an individual's ethical decision-making in the context of the Internet. An ethical decision-making model which posits that five moral philosophy variablesjustice, relativism, egoism, utilitarianism, and deontology-affect ethical judgment; ethical judgment, in turn, affects behavioral intention was proposed and Hofstede's five cultural dimensions of power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation were used to analyze the effects of national culture on the model. The results showed that power distance, individualism, and masculinity had significant effects on the relationship between the deontology variable and ethical judgment, individualism, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance had significant effects on the relationship between the justice variable and ethical judgment, and individualism and long-term orientation had significant effects on the relationship between ethical judgment and behavioral intention in the Internet context.