Journal of Information, Communication and Ethics in Society

Publisher:: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Publication date:: 2021-02-01

ISBN:: 1477-996X

Issue Number

No. 23-1, January - December - December - December - December - December - December - November 2024

Latest documents

Toward an evolving framework for responsible AI for credit scoring in the banking industry
Purpose: The aim of this research is to conduct a systematic review of the literature on responsible artificial intelligence (RAI) practices within the domain of AI-based Credit Scoring (AICS) in banking. This review endeavours to map the existing landscape by identifying the work done so far, delineating the key themes and identifying the focal points of research within this field. Design/methodology/approach: A database search of Scopus and Web of Science (last 20 years) resulted in 377 articles. This was further filtered for ABDC listing, and augmented with manual search. This resulted in a final list of 53 articles which was investigated further using the TCCM (Theory, Context, Characteristics and Methodology) review protocol. Findings: The RAI landscape for credit scoring in the banking industry is multifaceted, encompassing ethical, operational and technological dimensions. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in banking is widespread, aiming to enhance efficiency and improve customer experience. Based on the findings of the systematic literature review we found that past studies on AICS have revolved around four major themes: (a) Advances in AI technology; (b) Ethical considerations and fairness; (c) Operational challenges and limitations; and (d) Future directions and potential applications. The authors further propose future directions in RAI in credit scoring. Originality/value: Earlier studies have focused on AI in banking, credit scoring in isolation. This review attempts to provide deeper insights, facilitating the development of this key field.
Posting “what” on social media? The (mis-)use of Facebook by young people in refugee camps
Purpose: This paper aims to shed light on the threats that young people living in refugee camps face in their use of Facebook. While social media enable a participatory process of communication (Russo et al., 2008), which is based on the agency of the communicator and defined by their own cultural and moral goals (Lee et al., 2023), these platforms can at times be inappropriately pursued if the communicator lacks relevant skills. The outcome of such a pursuit can also inadvertently damage social cohesion in the camp and lead to conflict. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 17 semi-structured interviews were carried out in 2023 with young people between the ages of 20 and 29 living in Kakuma refugee camp. The young refugees were asked questions related to their own behaviour and practices on Facebook and to those of their peers. The focus was specifically on the context of the interactions with other youth in Kakuma and on the camp’s Facebook groups or pages. Findings: Findings reveal that limited knowledge, understanding and awareness of the functioning and affordances of social media platforms such as Facebook are leading young refugees towards multiple risks involved in public online interactions. This has significant negative impacts not only on the lives of the youth who are active on social media in the camp but also on the relationships with their peers and overall community harmony. Originality/value: A number of studies have identified some of the dangers arising for refugees operating in online spaces, and particularly on social media platforms (see, for example, Tech Transparency Project, 2022; Dekker et al., 2018). Yet, there is a lack of research on the outcomes that young refugees face in their immediate virtual and physical environment as a result of their online behaviour. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to bring to light the nature of the interactions and the dynamics that young, encamped refugees engage in on Facebook and to offer useful reflections that can inform digital literacy efforts carried out by development agencies.
The guardian of local culture: the dynamic of Indonesian local television to survive against global media onslaught
Purpose: The idea of television as a space for cultural and local wisdom has been enthusiastically welcomed by many parties. Regrettably, this expectation proves to be nothing more than an empty hope. Indonesian national television rarely broadcasts content with local cultural nuances. National television broadcast is filled with popular and global cultural content. Only local television tries hard to remain the last guardian of Indonesian culture and local wisdom. Several studies have raised the issue of local television broadcast content but have not succeeded in explaining the dynamics that occur in the management of local television to maintain and inherit local culture. This study aims to fill this gap. Design/methodology/approach: This research was conducted using a qualitative descriptive method with interview techniques as data collection methods. Findings: Indonesian local television continues to struggle to become the guardian for the sustainability of Indonesian local culture by emphasizing its market segmentation and trying to meet their needs, trying hard to implement intensification and extensification strategies, continuing to struggle to balance the onslaught of global culture and relying on government agencies as a nice market. However, the role and support of the government are greatly needed. Without it, local television will surely fall. Originality/value: This research reflects the dynamics that occur in the management of local television which is very challenging. By revealing the struggles that local television goes through in fortifying local culture and the minimal role of the Indonesian government, this research contributes to the development of sustainable strategies and the inheritance of local culture in this global era.
Using MCDA to select countermeasures against fake news
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the applicability of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) through a systematic approach using M-Macbeth to present alternatives for mitigating high-impact instances of disinformation in a community and measure the attractiveness of the options. Design/methodology/approach: The recent advent of Fake News (FN) and disinformation poses a significant threat to a community, organisation or individual, contributing to the erosion of public trust in institutions and democracy. This is aggravated should the authors consider the multiplicity of FN and, thus, the multitude of risk and their impact on the community. This research proposes tackling FN as a digital risk by applying an MCDA to select the appropriate countermeasures for Law Enforcement Agencies to tackle disinformation and FN crimes. Findings: Results indicate that to mitigate risk effectively, prioritising risk using adequate strategies and appropriate courses of action is crucial. Originality/value: Nevertheless, the contributions of this research work allowed us to comprehend the best option to mitigate the risk of FN and provide a realistic approach to support Law Enforcement in decision analysis.
AI-powered peer review needs human supervision
Purpose: This paper aims to appraise current challenges in adopting generative AI by reviewers to evaluate the readability and quality of submissions. The paper discusses how to make the AI-powered peer-review process immune to unethical practices, such as the proliferation of AI-generated poor-quality or fake reviews that could harm the value of peer review. Design/methodology/approach: This paper examines the potential roles of AI in peer review, the challenges it raises and their mitigation. It critically appraises current opinions and practices while acknowledging the lack of consensus about best practices in AI for peer review. Findings: The adoption of generative AI by the peer review process seems inevitable, but this has to happen (1) gradually, (2) under human supervision, (3) by raising awareness among stakeholders about all its ramifications, (4) through improving transparency and accountability, (5) while ensuring confidentiality through the use of locally hosted AI systems, (6) by acknowledging its limitations such as its inherent bias and unawareness of up-to-date knowledge, (7) by putting in place robust safeguards to maximize its benefits and lessen its potential harm and (8) by implementing a robust quality assurance to assess its impact on overall research quality. Originality/value: In the current race for more AI in scholarly communication, this paper advocates for a human-centered oversight of AI-powered peer review. Eroding the role of humans will create an undesirable situation where peer review will gradually metamorphose into an awkward conversation between an AI writing a paper and an AI evaluating that paper.
ChatGPT: a transformative role in academia–insights into academic staff performance since adoption
Purpose: The escalating integration of AI tools like ChatGPT within academia poses a critical challenge regarding their impact on faculty members’ and researchers’ academic performance levels. This paper aims to delve into academic performance within the context of the ChatGPT era by exploring the influence of several pivotal predictors, such as academic integrity, academic competence, personal best goals and perceived stress, as well as the moderating effect of ChatGPT adoption on academic performance. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses a quantitative method to investigate the impact of essential variables on academic integrity, academic competence, perceived stress and personal best goals by analysing 402 responses gathered from ResearchGate and Academia.edu sites. Findings: While affirming the established direct positive relationship between academic integrity and performance since adopting AI tools, this research revealed a significant moderating role of ChatGPT adoption on this relationship. Additionally, the authors shed light on the positive relationship between academic competence and performance in the ChatGPT era and the ChatGPT adoption-moderated interaction of competence and performance. Surprisingly, a negative association emerges between personal best goals and academic performance within ChatGPT-assisted environments. Notably, the study underscores a significant relationship between heightened performance through ChatGPT and increased perceived stress among academicians. Practical implications: The research advocates formulating clear ethical guidelines, robust support mechanisms and stress-management interventions to maintain academic integrity, enhance competence and prioritise academic professionals’ well-being in navigating the integration of AI tools in modern academia. Originality/value: This research stands out for its timeliness and the apparent gaps in current literature. There is notably little research on the use of ChatGPT in academic settings, making this investigation among the first to delve into how faculty and researchers in education use OpenAI.
Consumer manipulation – a definition, classification and future research agenda
Purpose: Recently, manipulative techniques, such as dark patterns, are widely applied. However, there is a need for clarification regarding these techniques and related phenomena. In particular, there is still no clarity about the terminology and conceptual basis of consumer manipulation. This paper aims to address this shortcoming by introducing a definition and classification of consumer manipulation. Design/methodology/approach: This paper takes a conceptual approach, drawing on existing literature and established theories to comprehend the phenomenon of consumer manipulation. Findings: The paper proposes that consumer manipulation comprises three dimensions: limited transparency, perceived restriction of autonomy and the feeling of being tricked. This paper presents a classification of different types of consumer manipulation and demonstrates how these types can lead to varying outcomes based on the source of manipulation, changeability, reasons for perception and perception timing. Based on this classification, research propositions informed by established theories and concepts are presented. Originality/value: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this work represents a first attempt to address the concept of consumer manipulation through a clear definition and classification. It is relevant for academics, policymakers and practitioners since it facilitates informed discussions and analyses of this concept. It benefits companies by raising awareness of potentially overlooked consequences of manipulative tactics, while also benefiting consumers by reducing their exposure to manipulation.
Necessary but not sufficient – examining the Belmont principles’ application in social and behavioral research ethics from a Confucian perspective
Purpose: Much prior literature has discussed bioethics from a Confucian perspective in biomedical research, but little has applied Confucianism in examining ethics in social and behavioral research involving human subjects. This paper aims to reexamine the Belmont principles in social and behavioral research from a Confucian perspective to discuss their applicability and limitations and propose implications for revising or extending them potentially in the future. Design/methodology/approach: A comparison is conducted on bioethics and social and behavioral research ethics. Afterward, a critical analysis is conducted on the Belmont principles of respect for persons, beneficence and justice from a Confucian perspective regarding their application in social and behavioral research. Findings: From a Confucian perspective, the Belmont principles are necessary but may not be sufficient to cover the width and depth of ethical issues in social and behavioral research, such as those in crowd work-based research. This paper proposes that ethical guidelines for social and behavioral research may need to be updated from the Belmont principles adopting or incorporating certain Confucian ethics. Originality/value: Social and behavioral research ethics have been relatively marginal compared to the bioethics deliberation in the existing literature. Unlike Beauchamp and Childress’s continued efforts in refining ethical guidelines for biomedical research specifically, little similar work has been done in this area since the Belmont report’s publication in 1979. This paper sheds light on building more refined and specific ethical guidelines to navigate the ever-growing numbers and diversities of nonmedical research topics, methodologies and contexts.
Navigating the digital classroom: a qualitative content analysis of MOOC discourses in Indian e-newspapers
Purpose: This paper aims to explore and unravel the contents portrayed in online news discourses on massive open online courses (MOOCs). Considering sociological dimensions and journalistic strategies, this study examines how online news media reflects, shapes and informs narratives about the social acceptance and use of the MOOC model of learning. Design/methodology/approach: Using the Gioia methodology as the overarching framework, this study adopted a two-staged qualitative content analysis of 1,162 online news items from the websites of the top seven online English newspapers of India, published between May 2012 and September 2023. In subsequent semi-structured interviews with subject matter experts, broad themes were identified. In addition, this study integrated Van Dijk’s ideological square model with media content theories to comprehensively analyze the intricate complexities in media depictions of MOOCs. Findings: While manifest content analysis revealed the emergence of 25 categories, latent content analysis unveiled six broad themes: “announcements, user stages, characteristics, benefits, changing facets, and educational inequalities,” which are associated with the MOOC model. Application of Van Dijk’s model evidenced the usage of a positive self-representation strategy by Indian online news media until mid-2020. The application of media content theories underscored the predominant usage of reframing as a journalistic strategy to maintain reader interest in MOOC-related content in online news items, emphasizing the dynamic nature of media portrayals of social phenomena such as MOOCs. Practical implications: The depth of MOOC-related coverage and the increasing number of news articles discussing MOOCs in Indian online media signify a growing acceptance of this educational innovation in society. Insights from emergent themes can aid administrators and platforms to effectively design and deliver future courses. In addition, understanding these themes can guide the development of media strategies to address contextual issues such as educational inequalities arising from MOOCs. This study also focuses on the necessity of upholding journalistic ethics in content dissemination. Originality/value: This study provides a comprehensive synthesis of various themes and journalistic strategies adopted by online news media over the last decade in MOOC-based narratives in India. Given the distinctive Indian context, wherein MOOCs are growing rapidly amid widening digital inequalities, this research addresses calls within information systems literature to explore this phenomenon. It pioneers the integration of communication and mass media theories to analyze the complex sociological dynamics in news discourses on MOOCs, offering a novel perspective on the intersection of media representation and educational innovation.
Exploring the open-source impact on Bangladesh academic library service sustainability
Purpose: This study investigates the impact of open-source software (OSS) on the sustainability of academic library services in Bangladesh. It aims to understand how OSS can address budget constraints, technological demands and the need for enhanced service delivery in these libraries. Design/methodology/approach: An in-depth qualitative research approach was used, involving semi-structured interviews with library administrators, IT staff and librarians from various academic institutions across Bangladesh. Findings: The study reveals that OSS adoption is primarily driven by financial imperatives and the need for flexible, customizable solutions tailored to specific institutional needs. Key benefits identified include significant cost savings, improved customization and flexibility of services and enhanced community support and collaboration. However, challenges such as a lack of in-house technical expertise, resistance to change among staff and stakeholders and inadequate IT infrastructure impede successful OSS implementation. Practical implications: To harness the full potential of OSS, academic libraries must invest in capacity building through targeted training programs, improve IT infrastructure and foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge-sharing within the library community. These strategies are essential to overcoming existing barriers and ensuring long-term sustainability. Originality/value: This research contributes to the understanding of OSS’s role in enhancing the sustainability of academic library services. It provides practical recommendations for academic libraries seeking to leverage OSS for improved service delivery and operational efficiency.