- Title
- An investigation of the question of cyber-ethics in social media-communications within selected South African NGOs
- Creator
- Mbinjama-Gamatham, Adelina
- Subject
- Social media -- Moral and ethical aspects Non-governmental organizations -- South Africa
- Subject
- Online social networks -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Subject
- Communication -- Social aspects
- Date Issued
- 2014
- Date
- 2014
- Type
- Thesis
- Type
- Doctoral
- Type
- DPhil
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/45804
- Identifier
- vital:39196
- Description
- The issue of ethics on the internet has become complicated due to a number of people placing material on cyberspace. NGOs are increasingly using social media to promote their products and services. Jürgen Habermas’ theory of communicative action and discourse ethics as a theoretical basis to the study merges together several factors which impact on the use of social media as a communicational tool for social marketing. The study explores how eight “ethical variables” (ethical and moral problems) are impacted by social media. The variables- justice, privacy, access, accuracy, truth, human dignity, regulation and ownership of information are a basis of enquiry by conducting in-depth interviews with employers/managers of 10 selected South African NGOs, as well as distributing survey questionnaires to 150 employees/volunteers of the NGOs to determine their experiences with cyberspace. The research investigates the social contexts of the selected NGOs and the safety measures they implement to protect their reputations and corporate identities. The study analyzes unethical behaviours that exist within the selected virtual organizations of the NGOs and investigates the ethical guidelines they follow in order to deal with the breaches of ethics. The study offers recommendations into amending drafted or existing public procedural policies for the purpose of self-regulating present and future users of social media. The study proposes that the continued misuse of social media may cause social media guidelines to be embedded into existing national legislative frameworks, such as South Africa’s Bill of Rights, as well as media and communications Acts.
- Format
- xvi, 253 leaves
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Arts
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | A MBINJAMA-GAMATHAM.pdf | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |