Abstract
While e-commerce has witnessed extensive growth in recent years, so has consumers’ concerns regarding ethical issues surrounding online shopping. The vast majority of earlier research on this area is conceptual in nature, and limited in scope by focusing on consumers’ privacy issues. This study develops a reliable and valid scale to measure consumers’ perceptions regarding the ethics of online retailers (CPEOR). Findings indicate that the four factors of the scale – security, privacy, non-deception and fulfillment/reliability – are strongly predictive of online consumers’ satisfaction and trust. The results offer important implications for e-retailers and are likely to stimulate further research in the area of e-ethics from the consumers’ perspective.
References
Aditya R. N. (2001) The Psychology of Deception in Marketing: A Conceptual Framework for Research and Practice. Psychology & Marketing 18:735–761
AIMC: 2006, “Audiencia de Internet Febrero/Marzo de 2006”, available at http://www.aimc.es
Anderson R. E., Srinivasan S. S. (2003) E-satisfaction and E-loyalty: A Contingency Framework. Psychology & Marketing 20:123–138
Bagozzi R. P., Yi Y. (1988) On the Evaluation of Structural Equation Models. Academy of Marketing Science 16:74–94
Balasubramanian S. K., Cole C. (2002) Consumers’ Search and Use of Nutrition Information: The Challenges and Promise of the Nutrition Labelling and Education Act. Journal of Marketing 66:112–127
Bart Y., Shankar V., Sultan F., Urban G. L. (2005) Are the Drivers and Role of Online Trust the same for all Web Sites and Consumers? A Large-scale Exploratory Empirical Study. Journal of Marketing 69:133–152
Bartels R. (1967) A Model for Ethics in Marketing. Journal of Marketing 31:20–26
Barry V. (1979) Moral Issues in Business. Wadsworth Publishing Co, New York
Beauchamp T. L., Bowie N. E. (1983) Ethical Theory and Business. Second Edition. Prentice Hall, N.J.
Belanger F., Hiller J. S., Smith W. J. (2002) Trustworthiness in Electronic Commerce: The Role of Privacy, Security, and Site Attributes. Journal of Strategic Information Systems 11:245–270
Beltramini R. F. (2003) Application of the Unfairness Doctrine to Marketing Communications on the Internet. Journal of Business Ethics 42:393–400
Ben-Ner A., Putterman L. (2003) Trust in the New Economy. In: Jones D. C. (ed) New Economy Handbook. Academic Press, New York, pp. 1067–1095
Best S. J., Krueger B. (2002) New Approaches to Assessing Opinion: The Prospects for Electronic Mail Surveys. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 14:73–91
Biswas D., Biswas A. (2004) The Diagnostic Role of Signals in the Context of Perceived Risks in Online Shopping: Do Signals Matter More on the Web. Journal of Interactive Marketing 18:30–45
Burns D. J., Fawcett J. K., Lanasa J. (1994) Business Students’ Ethical Perceptions of Retail Situations: A Microcultural Comparison. Journal of Business Ethics 13:667–679
Bush V. S., Venable B. T., Bush A. J. (2000) Ethics and Marketing on the Internet: Practitioners’ Perceptions of Societal, Industry and Company Concerns. Journal of Business Ethics 23:237–248
Caudill E. M., Murphy P. E. (2000) Consumer Online Privacy: Legal and Ethical Issues. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 19:7–19
Camenisch P. F. (1991) Marketing Ethics: Some Dimensions of the Challenge. Journal of Business Ethics 10:245–248
Churchill G. A. (1979) A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs. Journal of Marketing Research 16:64–73
Citera M., Beauregard R., Mitsuya T. (2005) An Experimental Study of Credibility in E-negotiations. Psychology & Marketing 22:163–179
Coupey E. (2001) Marketing and the Internet: Conceptual Foundations. Prentice-Hall, NJ
Crosby L. A., Evans K. R., Cowles D. (1990) Relationship Quality in Services Selling: An Interpersonal Influence Perspective. Journal of Marketing 54:68–81
DePaulo B. M. (1992) Nonverbal Behavior and Self-presentation. Psychological Bulletin 111:203–243
Donthu N., Garcia A. (1999) The Internet Shopper. Journal of Advertising Research 39:52–59
Douglas S., Craig C. S. (1983) International Marketing Research. Prentice-Hall, NJ
EIAA: 2006, “UK Leads the Way in Online Shopping”, available at http://www.eiaa.net/press-information/
Ferber R. (1977) Research by Convenience. Journal of Consumer Research 4:57–58
Fornell C., Larcker D. F. (1981) Evaluating Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error. Journal of Marketing Research 28:39–50
Freestone O., Mitchell V. W. (2004) Generation Y attitudes Towards E-ethics and Internet-related Misbehaviours. Journal of Business Ethics 54:121–128
Fullerton S., Kerch K. B., Dodge H. R. (1996) Consumer Ethics: An Assessment of Individual Behaviour in the Market Place. Journal of Business Ethics 15:805–814
Garbarino E., Strahilevitz M. (2004) Gender Differences in the Perceived Risks of Buying Online and the Effects of Receiving a Site Recommendation. Journal of Business Research 57:768–775
Gardner D. M. (1975) Deception in Advertising: A Conceptual Approach. Journal of Marketing 39:40–46
Govoni N. A. (2004) Dictionary of Marketing Communications. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks
Grabner-Kraeuter S. (2002) The Role of Consumers’ Trust in Online-shopping. Journal of Business Ethics 39:43–50
Grewal D., Iyer G. R., Levy M. (2004) Internet Retailing: Enablers, Limiters and Market Consequences. Journal of Business Research 8:695–743
Hair J. D., Anderson R. E., Tatham R. L., Black W. C. (1998) Multivariate Data Analysis (5th ed). Prentice Hall, NJ
Hofstede G. (1991) Cultures and Organizations. McGraw-Hill, London
Hyman M. R., Tansey R., Clark J. W. (1994) Research on Advertising Ethics: Past, Present, and Future. Journal of Advertising 23:5–15
Jarvis C. B., Mackenzie S. B., Podsakoff P. M. (2003) A Critical Review of Construct Indicators and Measurement Model Misspecification in Marketing and Consumer Research. Journal of Consumer Research 30:199–218
Jöreskog K.G., Sörbom D. (1996) Lisrel 8: User’s Reference Guide Second Edition. Scientific Sowftware International Inc, Chicago
Kennedy M. S., Ferrell L. K., Leclair D. T. (2001) Consumers’ Trust of Salesperson and Manufacturer: An Empirical Study. Journal of Business Research 51:73–86
Kolsaker A., Payne C. (2002) Engendering Trust in E-Commerce: A Study Of Gender-Based Concerns. Marketing Intelligence & Planning 20:206–214
Lagace R. R., Dahlstrom R., Gassenheimer J. B. (1991) The Relevance of Ethical Salesperson Behavior on Relationship Quality: The Pharmaceutical Industry. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management 11:39–47
Latané B. (1981) The Psychology of Social Impact. American Psychologist 36:343–356
Le Menestrel M. Hunter M., De Bettignies H.-C. (2002) Intenet E-Ethics in Confrontation with an Activists’ Agenda: Yahoo! on Trial. Journal of Business Ethics 39:135–144
Levy M., Dubinksy A. J. (1983) Identifying and Addressing Retail Salespeople’s Ethical Problems. Journal of Retailing 59:46–66
Lewis P. V. (1985) Defining Business Ethics: Like Nailing Jello to a Wall. Journal of Business Ethics 4:377–383
Malhotra N. K. (2004) Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, 4th ed. Pearson Education, NJ
Maury M. D., Kleiner D. S. (2002) E-Commerce, Ethical Commerce?. Journal of Business Ethics 36:21–31
Mcintyre R. P., Capen M. M., Minton A. P. (1995) Exploring the Psychological Foundations of Ethical Positions in Marketing. Psychology & Marketing 12:569–582
Mcintyre F. S., Thomas J. L. Jr., Gilbert F. W. (1999) Consumer Segments and Perceptions of Retail Ethics. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice 2:43–53
Meinert D. B., Peterson D. K., Criswell J. R., Crossland M. D. (2006) Privacy Policy Statements And Consumer Willingness to Provide Personal Information. Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations 4:1–17
Meseguer A. Rodríguez I., Vilaseca J. (2003) Situación y Perspectivas del Comercio Electrónico en España: Un Análisis a Través del Volumen del Negocio Electrónico. Esic Market 114:77–107
Milne G. R., Culnan M. J. (2004) Strategies For Reducing Online Privacy Risks: Why Consumers Read (Or Don’t Read) Online Privacy Notices. Journal of Interactive Marketing 18:15–29
Miyazaki A. D., Fernandez A. (2000) Internet Privacy and Security: An Examination of Online Retailer Disclosures. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 19:54–61
Miyazaki A.D., Fernandez A. (2001) Consumer Perceptions of Privacy and Security Risks For Online Shopping. The Journal of Consumer Affairs 35:27–44
Muncy J. A., Vitell S. J. (1992) Consumer Ethics: An Investigation of the Ethical Beliefs of the Final Consumer. Journal of Business Research 24:297–311
Murphy P. E., Laczniak G. R., Bowie N. E., Klein T. A. (2005) Ethical Marketing. Basic Ethics in Action. Pearson Prentice Hall, NJ
New Media Age: 2006, “In Brief: Number of Internet Users Passed 1bn Last Year”, New Media Age, Jan, 13.
Norris D. G., Gifford J. B. (1988) Retail Store Managers’ and Students’ Perceptions of Ethical Retail Practices: A Comparative and Longitudinal Analysis (1976–1986). Journal of Business Ethics 7:515–524
Nunnally J. C., Bernstein I. H. (1994) Psychometric Theory, 3rd Edn. Mcgraw-Hill, New York
Oliver R. L. (1980) A Cognitive Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Satisfaction Judgments. Journal of Marketing Research 17:460–469
Oliver R. L., Desarbo W. S. (1988) Response Determinants in Satisfaction Judgments. Journal of Consumer Research 14:495–507
Palmer D. E. (2005) Pop-Ups, Cookies, and Spam: Toward a Deeper Analysis of the Ethical Significance of Internet Marketing Practices. Journal of Business Ethics 58:271–280
Parasuraman A., Zeithaml V. A., Malhotra A. (2005) E-S-QUAL A Multiple-Item Scale For Assessing Electronic Service Quality. Journal of Service Research 7:213–233
Petty R. D. (1998) Interactive Marketing and the Law: The Future Rise of Unfairness. Journal of Interactive Marketing 12:21–31
Pollach, I.: 2005, “A Typology of Communicative Strategies in Online Privacy Policies: Ethics, Power and Informed Consent”, Journal of Business Ethics 62, 221–235
Rawwas M. Y. A. (2001) Culture, Personality and Morality. A Typology of International Consumers’ Ethical Believes. International Marketing Review 18:188–209
Reidenbach R. E., Robin D. P. (1990) Ethics: Improving Evaluations of Business Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 9:639–653
Reidenbach R. E., Robin D. P., Dawson L. (1991) An Application and Extension of a Multidimensional Ethics Scale to Selected Marketing Practices and Marketing Groups. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 19:83–92
Román S. (2003) The Impact of Ethical Sales Behaviour on Customer Satisfaction, Trust and Loyalty to the Company: An Empirical Study in the Financial Services Industry. Journal of Marketing Management 19:915–949
Román S., Munuera J. L. (2005) Determinants and Consequences of Ethical Behaviour: An Empirical Study of Salespeople. European Journal of Marketing 39:473–495
Román S., Ruiz S. (2005) Relationship Outcomes of Perceived Ethical Sales Behavior: The Customer’s Perspective. Journal of Business Research 58:439–445
Rotter J. B. (1971) Generalized Expectations for Interpersonal Trust. American Psychologist 26:443–452
Sama L. M., Shoaf V. (2002) Ethics on the Web: Applying Moral Decision-Making to the New Media. Journal of Business Ethics 36:93–103
Schiffman L. G., Sherman E., Long M. M. (2003) Toward A Better Understanding of the Interplay of Personal Values and the Internet. Psychology & Marketing 20:169–186
Short J., Williams E., Christie B. (1976) The Social Psychology of Telecommunications. Wiley, London
Singh T., Hill M. E. (2003) Consumer Privacy and the Internet in Europe: A View From Germany. Journal of Consumer Marketing 20:634–651
Singhapakdi A., Vitell S. J., Rallapalli K. C., Kraft K. L. (1996) The Perceived Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility: A Scale Development. Journal of Business Ethics 15:1131–1140
Siplor J. C., Ward B. T., Rongione N. M. (2004) Ethics of Collecting and Using Consumer Internet Data. Information System Management 21:58–66
Spanish Ministry Of Industry, Tourism and Commerce: 2005, “Uso y Perfil de Usuarios de Internet en España”, available at http://www.observatorio.red.es/ estudios/consumo/
Stead B. A., Gilbert J. (2001) Ethical Issues in Electronic Commerce. Journal of Business Ethics 34:75–85
Stevens J. (1996) Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences. Mahwah, Lawrence Erlbaum. N.J
Strutton D., Pelton L. E., Ferrell O.C. (1997) Ethical Behavior in Retail Settings: Is There a Generation Gap?. Journal of Business Ethics 16:87–105
Swan J. E., Bowers M. R., Richardson L. D. (1999) Customer Trust in the Salesperson: An Integrate Review and Meta-Analysis of the Empirical Literature. Journal of Business Research 44:93–107
Swinyard W. R., Smith S. M. (2003) Why People (Don’t) Shop Online: A Lifestyle Study of the Internet Consumer. Psychology & Marketing 20:567–597
Szymanski D. M., Hise R. T. (2000) E-Satisfaction: An Initial Examination. Journal of Retailing 76:309–322
Tavani H. T. (2000) Privacy and Security. In: Langford D. (ed) Internet Ethics. Macmillan Press, Hampshire, pp. 65–95
Truste: 2005, Tns/Truste Holiday... Available at http://www.truste.org/about/press_release/
Tsalikis J., Fritzsche D. J. (1989) Business Ethics: A Literature Review with a Focus on Marketing Ethics. Journal of Business Ethics 8:695–743
Tversky A., Kahneman D. (1991) Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model. Quarterly Journal of Economics (November), 1039–1061
Vijayan, J.: 2005, “Security Concerns Cloud Online Shopping”, Computerworld, December 5, 8
Vitell S. J. (2003) Consumer Ethics Research: Review, Synthesis and Suggestions for the Future. Journal of Business Ethics 43:33–47
Vitell S. J., Rallapalli K. C., Singhapakdi A. (1993) Marketing Norms: The Influence of Personal Moral Philosophies and Organizational Ethical Climate. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 21:331–337
Vitell S. J., Muncy J. A. (2005) The Muncy-Vitell Consumer Ethics Scale: A Modification and Application. Journal of Business Ethics 62:267–275
Westin A. (1967) Privacy and Freedom. Athenaeum, New York
Wolfinbarger M., Gilly M. C. (2003) eTailQ: Dimensionalizing, Measuring and Predicting etail Quality. Journal of Retailing 79:183–198
Yang Z., Jun M., Peterson R. T. (2004) Measuring Customer Perceived Online Service Quality: Scale Development and Managerial Implications. International Journal of Operations & Production Management 24:1149–1174
Yoo B., Donthu N. (2001) Developing a Scale to Measure the Perceived Quality of Internet Shopping Sites (SITEQUAL). Quarterly Journal of Electronic Commerce 2:31–47
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Sergio Román is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Murcia (Spain). He has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Arizona. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Business Research, International Marketing Review, International Journal of Market Research, European Journal of Marketing and Journal of Marketing Management. His research interests are focused on personal selling and sales management, international marketing and business ethics.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Roman, S. The Ethics of Online Retailing: A Scale Development and Validation from the Consumers’ Perspective. J Bus Ethics 72, 131–148 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9161-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9161-y