Doing the right thing online: A survey of bloggers' ethical beliefs and practices

Mark Cenite*, Benjamin H. Detenber, Andy W.K. Koh, Alvin L.H. Lim, Ng Ee Soon

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

30 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study explores the ethical beliefs and practices of two distinct groups of bloggers ĝ€" personal and non-personal ĝ€" through a worldwide web survey. A stratified purposive sample of 1224 bloggers provided information about their blogging experience, blogging habits and demographics. They were asked about their beliefs and practices for four ethical principles: truth-telling, attribution, accountability and minimizing harm. The findings reveal that the two groups differ in terms of who they are and what they do in their weblogs (blogs). In addition, there were significant differences in the extent to which they value and adhere to the four principles, and some interesting similarities. For example, both groups believe that attribution is most important and accountability least important. Scholars have proposed blogging ethics codes, and this study found that bloggers themselves support such a code.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)575-597
Number of pages23
JournalNew Media and Society
Volume11
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2009
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Communication
  • Sociology and Political Science

Keywords

  • Blog
  • Demographics
  • Ethical beliefs
  • Ethical practices
  • Ethics
  • Ethics code
  • Survey

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