Date of Graduation

5-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Human Resource and Workforce Development (EdD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Counseling, Leadership, and Research Methods

Advisor/Mentor

Hughes, Claretha

Committee Member

Maddox, Jim

Second Committee Member

Liang, Xinya

Keywords

Integration; Human Resources Development; Technology; Ethics; Leadership Scale

Abstract

People and technologies have coexisted within organizations for centuries. In the wave of the fourth and fifth industrial revolutions, however, organizations must place an emphasis on ethically integrating new technologies, like artificial intelligence, alongside people in order to sustain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. A review of the literature identified a need for more research examining ethics in the use of technology by HRD professionals. The purpose of this descriptive research study was to assess the relationship between HRD activities, ethics, and technology and examine the influence that an organization’s code of ethics has on their integration. This study examined four research questions: in what way(s) and in how often is an organization’s code of ethics communicated to leaders, is the King and Hughes HRD, Technology Ethics, and Leadership Scale a valid and reliable measure of ethical decision-making in a sample of leaders, how sensitive are leaders to unethical activities involving human resource development activities, technology, and ethics, and how does an organization’s code of ethics influence its leaders’ perception of ethical usage of technology within the organization? A survey was distributed to those with leadership experience and participants asked to answer several questions relating to codes of ethics communication and perceptions of codes of ethics and to rate HRD, leadership, and technology ethics scenarios on a scale from ethical to illegal. The study identified the most common methods of codes of ethics communication within organizations. It provided initial findings towards the validation of the King and Hughes HRD Technology Ethics, and Leadership Scale and that participants were generally sensitive to the nature of unethical scenarios involving HRD and technology. Finally, the study results added to previous mixed results on the impact of codes of ethics in organizations.

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