Operationalising digital ethics: establishment of an ethics evaluation tool for data analytics

Abstract Digital ethics is increasingly applied in practice within contexts such as public service and corporate environments. However, a significant challenge remains in understanding how to implement these principles effectively without diluting their efficacy and meaningful impact. While organisations employ a range of solutions, such as committees, training, audits, or tools to bridge the often cited “principles to practice gap,” there is a recognised need to tailor these solutions to address domain-relevant challenges, such as in data analytics. Despite the substantial role of data analytics in driving decision-making processes and fostering innovation across various sectors, there is a notable gap in research focused on how digital ethics is operationalised in data analytics. Our work presented here addresses this gap by discussing how operationalisation of digital ethics can be achieved within this domain. The challenges and insights from the Analytics Center of Excellence at Merck KGaA, a multinational science and technology company, are utilised as a case study for implementing digital ethics within this domain. We present the development and deployment of Merck’s Digital Ethics Check (MDEC), an instrument tailored to address the ethical challenges in data analytics. The present work underscores the advantages of a semi-automated integration of digital ethics into data analytics. In doing so, we highlight the relevance of the challenges encountered in the practical application of digital ethics within the domain of data analytics in a business context. Our work provides a practical impetus to guide organisations seeking to embed ethical considerations within their data analytics operations.