COMPARISONS OF PERCEPTIONS OF NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGE CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICERS AND FACULTY ON CODES OF CONDUCT

Abstract

The development of ethical standards by institutions of higher education has been in part a response to real and perceived unethical behaviors on the part of faculty members. Though institutional codes of ethics are not required by North Carolina Community College System colleges, eleven of the 58 colleges have adopted and published codes. This qualitative study examines how those codes are perceived by the Chief Academic Officers (CAO) and fulltime faculty members. The study collected responses through face-to-face interviews with three CAOs and 17 faculty members. The interview questions focused on awareness, understanding, and internalization of the published code of ethics. The structured questions were designed by the author and were based on literature and relevant studies. The creation or adoption of the code of ethics at their respective colleges was in response to internal issues or external pressures. The CAOs in this study had a key role in developing and implementing the code at their respective colleges, but they had not fully maximized employment and integration of the code into the college culture. The findings indicated that faculty and CAOs vary in perceptions of purpose and utility of the code. The findings also reveal that among the faculty participants in this study, there may be a superficial awareness of the code. Health Science faculty member were found to have a strong association with the codes of their professional organizations.