Global Ethics and Nanotechnology: A Comparison of the Nanoethics Environments of the EU and China

The following article offers a brief overview of current nanotechnology policy, regulation and ethics in Europe and The People’s Republic of China with the intent of noting (dis)similarities in approach, before focusing on the involvement of the public in science and technology policy (i.e. participatory Technology Assessment). The conclusions of this article are, that (a) in terms of nanosafety as expressed through policy and regulation, China PR and the EU have similar approaches towards, and concerns about, nanotoxicity—the official debate on benefits and risks is not markedly different in the two regions; (b) that there is a similar economic drive behind both regions’ approach to nanodevelopment, the difference being the degree of public concern admitted; and (c) participation in decision-making is fundamentally different in the two regions. Thus in China PR, the focus is on the responsibility of the scientist; in the EU, it is about government accountability to the public. The formulation of a Code of Conduct for scientists in both regions (China PR’s predicted for 2012) reveals both similarity and difference in approach to nanotechnology development. This may change, since individual responsibility alone cannot guide S&T development, and as public participation is increasingly seen globally as integral to governmental decision-making

Investigating the Fair Treatment of Suppliers and its Trust Fostering Role and Performance Benefits

An increasing number of companies have begun to make efforts to treat their suppliers fairly as a part of wider corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Few studies, however, have investigated the performance implications of such efforts for buying firms. This paper uses both organisational climate theory and social exchange theory to investigate (1) if buying firms' efforts in the form of a code of conduct for its procurement practitioners pay off, and (2) its mechanisms from the perspectives of procurement practitioners. We use a multi-method approach, combining analysis of survey data complemented by results from a behavioural experiment. First, survey data were gathered from 327 Korean manufacturing companies and analysed using structural equation modelling. Second, the findings were complemented by a behavioural experiment involving 120 subjects. The results support the positive performance implications of fair supplier treatment in the form of codes of conduct for procurement practitioners. The paper also offers insights into how such efforts benefit buying firms, which is due to the trust in the buyer-supplier relationship fostered by the resulting ethical behaviours of procurement practitioners

The roles of hypocrisy induction and self construal theory to stop illegal downloading

The purpose of the study is to reveal how hypocrisy induction and self-construal theory influence attitudes toward the public service announcement urging against illegal downloading and the willingness to stop illegal downloading. As time goes on, illegal downloading has been rampant due to the advancement of technology, which motivates the government agencies involved in protecting intellectual property to conduct various campaigns. However, despite of their constant efforts, the previous methods such as legal punishment or monetary penalties categorized as an external factor have been ineffective to prevent illegal downloading. Therefore, the current study suggested a new strategy using hypocrisy induction and self-construal theory considered as an internal factor which spontaneously enocourage people to stop illegal downloading. To test hypotheses, a 3 (types of hypocrisy: hypocrisy induction by independent means vs. hypocrisy induction by interdependent means vs. control) X 2 (types of message in public service announcements: a personal perspective vs. a social perspective) between-subjects design was employed. The results showed that hypocrisy induction significantly affected attitudes toward the public service announcements and the willingness to stop illegal downloading. In addition, the interaction effect between types of hypocrisy and types of message was significant. Therefore, the study concluded that hypocrisy induction and self-construal theory would play an important role in preventing illegal downloading.Advertisin

The Journey Continues: Ensuring a Cross-Culturally Competent Evaluation

Follows up the 2007 report The Importance of Culture in Evaluation with scenarios of how cross-cultural issues emerge and expert commentary on how to address them. Highlights evaluators' roles in promoting social equity and other considerations

Protecting Egg Donors and Human Embryos—The Failure of the South Korean Bioethics and Biosafety Act

Human embryonic stem cells have the potential to treat many physical and neurological disorders due to their unique ability to transform into any type of human cell. The process of deriving stem cells from human embryos, however, raises important ethical and regulatory issues. Embryonic stem cell research requires a steady source of human eggs to create embryos that are destroyed during stem cell extraction. International declarations and guidelines protect the two most vulnerable participants of embryonic stem cell research: women who donate eggs for research purposes and human embryos that are destroyed in the research. In 2005, South Korea passed the Bioethics and Biosafety Act to regulate biotechnology research. In its current form, the Bioethics and Biosafety Act fails to adequately protect egg donors and human embryos. The Bioethics and Biosafety Act does not have adequate safeguards to protect egg donors, such as a requirement of voluntary consent and a requirement that egg donors understand the research and its potential risks. The Institutional Review Boards established by the Bioethics and Biosafety Act are not sufficiently removed from the research institution to guarantee that egg donors are not exploited. Additionally, this legislation fails to appropriately regulate the use of human embryos in scientific research as required by international guidelines. The Bioethics and Biosafety Act should include more detailed provisions dealing with the adequacy and quality of informed consent that is obtained from egg donors. Furthermore, Korea should amend its law to limit the use of human embryos in stem cell research so that the embryos are not unnecessarily destroyed

Operationalizing The Unesco Universal Declaration On Bioethics And Human Rights Through A Trans-Cultural Lens: A Qualitative Study With Students In South Korea And The United States

The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights (UDBHR) was a well-intentioned but controversial document. Some scholars appreciated UNESCO’s attempts at providing an internationally recognized set of ethical guidelines. Other critics maintained the UDBHR, in particular Article 12, was yet another representation of Western ideological hegemony and an ill-informed attempt at embracing universality at the expense of diversity. This paper acknowledged this debate but approaches the UDBHR in trans-cultural manner, framing the UDBHR not as an imposing guideline, but as a seed around which dialogue can coalesce. Such dialogue might engage similarities, differences, and nuances between different ethical perspectives, and consider why these phenomena exist in a way that avoids excessive generalizations or dichotomizations. Using the UDBHR as a topical anchor, this paper explores and juxtaposes ethical perspectives from the United States and South Korea through qualitative, semi-structured interviews with American and Korean students involved in the health sector. Interview questions prompted participants to reflect on their ethical values and application of those values in difficult dilemmas. Responses were organized based on the UDBHR principles and examined further. The UDBHR principles all emerged in both Korean and American participant responses, although some responses embodied unique nuances. Although Korean and American perspectives on topics such as benefit, harm, and transparency were relatively comparable, discussions around individual ethics and solidarity had slightly different flavors: Koreans commonly considered individual ethics in the context of COVID-19, while solidarity was the main focus in American discussions around COVID-19. This paper concludes with a reflection on these observed nuances, and potential implications for future global ethics education

Attainable and Relevant Moral Exemplars Are More Effective than Extraordinary Exemplars in Promoting Voluntary Service Engagement

The present study aimed to develop effective moral educational interventions based on social psychology by using stories of moral exemplars. We tested whether motivation to engage in voluntary service as a form of moral behavior was better promoted by attainable and relevant exemplars or by unattainable and irrelevant exemplars. First, experiment 1, conducted in a lab, showed that stories of attainable exemplars more effectively promoted voluntary service activity engagement among undergraduate students compared with stories of unattainable exemplars and non-moral stories. Second, experiment 2, a middle school classroom-level experiment with a quasi-experimental design, demonstrated that peer exemplars, who are perceived to be attainable and relevant to students, better promoted service engagement compared with historic figures in moral education classes

Convergence in international business ethics? A comparative study of ethical philosophies, thinking style, and ethical decision-making between US and Korean managers

This study investigates the relationship among ethical philosophy, thinking style, and managerial ethical decision-making. Based on the premise that business ethics is a function of culture and time, we attempt to explore two important questions as to whether the national differences in managerial ethical philosophies remain over time and whether the relationship between thinking style and ethical decision-making is consistent across different national contexts. We conducted a survey on Korean managers’ ethical decision-making and thinking style and made a cross-cultural, cross-temporal comparison with the results presented by previous studies that surveyed Korean and US managers with the same questionnaire at different points in time. Our analysis revealed that Korean managers have become more reliant on rule utilitarianism for ethical decision-making over the last two decades, which is dominantly used by US managers, corroborating our convergence hypothesis built on social contracts theory. However, as opposed to previous research, we found that managers with a balanced linear and nonlinear thinking style do not necessarily make more ethical decisions compared to those with a predominantly linear or nonlinear thinking style. This study contributes to international business ethics literature by presenting a theoretical framework that may explain the convergence of ethical philosophies employed by managers in different national contexts over time, and that the relationship between thinking style and managerial ethical decision-making may not be universal, but contingent on contextual factors

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT IN SOUTH KOREA: TOWARDS DEVELOPING A LOCAL MODEL FOR PRACTICE

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore community empowerment practice (CEP) in South Korea (SK) and develop a Korean model of CEP. To begin, I describe key contexts of Korean society such as political, economical and cultural backgrounds alongside the history of Korean community work. To achieve the objectives of this thesis, I studied the CEP project for three years from 2003 to 2005. At the same time, I collected qualitative data from 10 participants who were involved in the CEP. I analysed the Korean CEP in terms of a modified Western model of CEP formed by reviewing Western models and ideas of CEP. The analysis revealed: i) the lack of knowledge, values, skills and organisation needed to practice community empowerment in Korea; ii) ways of overcoming some limitations of traditional Korean community work skills in the areas of developing community profiles, community organising, learning from practice, networking, and encouraging resident participation; iii) engaging with differences in practice between community welfare centres (CWCs) and the centres of NGOs that prioritise welfare activities for poor people (WNGOs), e.g., in the fields of community organising, networking and participation; and iv) the lack of positive outcomes in building rights-based and equality-oriented community work to reduce power differences between residents and agencies/ power holders. The proposals for developing a Korean model of CEP include: i) creating an independent organisation that can support knowledge and education as well as play a meditating role in assisting with the acquisition of resources and involvement in political activities; ii) setting strategic directions for the step-by-step changes needed to transfer from working within a traditional Korean model of community work to ‘emancipatory CEP’ by combining both technicist practice and transformative practice; iii) building alliances between CWCs and WNGOs alongside other organisations that are concerned with social justice and equality, while also developing capacity and skills to addresses the weaknesses of both CWCs and WNGOs; and iv) enhancing practitioners capacity and skills to engage not only with policy makers and politicians, but also in collective action together with local people to transform oppressive structures that constrain residents’ rights and equality. This study also demonstrates that community empowerment practice possible in a wide variety of controls and contexts

2005 Report – International Secretariat Clean Clothes Campaign

The report summarizes the activities of the Clean Clothes Campaign’s International Secretariat for the year of 2005, with a specific focus on the right to organize