Blinded by the (blue) light: Technology and ethical decision-making
McKenzie Rees, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resources, School of Business, Brigham Young University

Technology is impacting every aspect of our work, including our work with others. Most research and popular press have touted technology for increases in efficiency and accuracy, even improving the bottom line by doing a job previously done by a more costly employee. However, technology used to assist or even interact with employees has been deemed impersonal, robotic, and data-dependent, which suggests further understanding is needed to fully know how employees will interact with technology in the workplace in the future. I will present on two different projects related specifically to the question of how ethical employees choose to be when interacting with technology. In one project, I will focus on the ethical negotiation actions of individuals when negotiating with an artificial intelligence representative, showing that humans are more willing to engage in unethical negotiation tactics when negotiating with an AI versus a human. In a second project, I will show how supporting technology (backgrounds on video-mediated communication) impacts perceptions of a speaker’s ethicality and the downstream ethical behaviors of the viewers in this medium of communication.
This lecture made possible in part by a generous endowment from Professor Allen L. Edwards.

Faculty host: Sapna Cheryan (scheryan@uw.edu) 

This lecture is made possible in part by a generous endowment from Professor Allen L. Edwards