January/February 2019

On Ethics
Can a Code of Ethics Influence Ethical Decision Making In Software Engineering?

A recent North Carolina State University study reveals how simply having a code of ethics isn’t enough to encourage ethical behavior and improve development within the software engineering field.

Researchers at the university examined if the Association for Computing Machinery’s Code of Ethics has a positive impact on the ethical decision making of software and computer engineers. ACM established its Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct in 1972 (with updates in 1992 and 2018). The code highlights ethical principles such as “contributing to society and to human wellbeing, acknowledging that all people are stakeholders in computing” and “respect the work required to produce new ideas, inventions, creative works, and computing artifacts.” Some of the professional responsibilities outlined in the ACM Code of Ethics call for the professional to “maintain high standards of professional competence, conduct, and ethical practice” and “design and implement systems that are robustly and usably secure.” In the study, researchers asked 168 software engineering students and professional software engineers to evaluate 11 software-related ethical decisions. The students and professionals were divided into a control group and a group that was told to use the ACM Code of Ethics. The researchers asked participants to explain how they would act in situations that illustrated real-world issues and ethical dilemmas.

What type of real-world events demonstrate how harmful it can be when software engineers fail to make ethical decisions? For example, the researchers point to the Volkswagen scandal, in which diesel vehicle software was programmed to operate in two modes to evade pollution regulations and inspections. In one mode, the car would operate in normal driving conditions while emitting pollution above regulated levels. In another operation mode, the car would emit at the regulated pollution levels when the software detected an inspection. Despite objections from some engineers, nothing was done to stop this unethical practice. When the deception was discovered, the company faced fines in the billions and its reputation was left in shambles.

The researchers found that there was no significant difference in the decisions made by participants in the control group and the group that used the code of ethics to assist in decision making. They believe that more study is needed to identify what techniques and interventions will improve ethical decision making within the profession.

Access the paper Does ACM’s Code of Ethics Change Ethical Decision Making in Software Development?