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The Ethics of Online Retailing: A Scale Development and Validation from the Consumers’ Perspective

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  • Sergio Roman

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. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2007

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  • Sergio Roman, 2007. "The Ethics of Online Retailing: A Scale Development and Validation from the Consumers’ Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 72(2), pages 131-148, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:72:y:2007:i:2:p:131-148
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-006-9161-y
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    4. Aboul-Dahab, Sameh & Agag, Gomaa & Hassan Abdelmoety, Ziad, 2021. "Examining the influence of cultural and ethical ideology on consumers’ perceptions about the ethics of online retailers and its effects on their loyalty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Sergio Román & Pedro Cuestas, 2008. "The Perceptions of Consumers Regarding Online Retailers’ Ethics and Their Relationship with Consumers’ General Internet Expertise and Word of Mouth: A Preliminary Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 83(4), pages 641-656, December.
    6. Neelam Chawla & Basanta Kumar, 2022. "E-Commerce and Consumer Protection in India: The Emerging Trend," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 581-604, October.
    7. Anshu, Kumari & Gaur, Loveleen & Singh, Gurmeet, 2022. "Impact of customer experience on attitude and repurchase intention in online grocery retailing: A moderation mechanism of value Co-creation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Nadeem, Waqar & Juntunen, Mari & Shirazi, Farid & Hajli, Nick, 2020. "Consumers’ value co-creation in sharing economy: The role of social support, consumers’ ethical perceptions and relationship quality," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    9. Michaelidou, Nina & Micevski, Milena, 2019. "Consumers' ethical perceptions of social media analytics practices: Risks, benefits and potential outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 576-586.
    10. Ibrahim Mutambik & John Lee & Abdullah Almuqrin & Waleed Halboob & Taha Omar & Ahmad Floos, 2022. "User concerns regarding information sharing on social networking sites: The user’s perspective in the context of national culture," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-27, January.
    11. Nadeem, Waqar & Tan, Teck Ming & Tajvidi, Mina & Hajli, Nick, 2021. "How do experiences enhance brand relationship performance and value co-creation in social commerce? The role of consumer engagement and self brand-connection," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    12. Mauricio S. Featherman & Nick Hajli, 2016. "Self-Service Technologies and e-Services Risks in Social Commerce Era," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 139(2), pages 251-269, December.
    13. Chris Bell & Kelley Main, 2011. "Deonance and Distrust: Motivated Third Party Information Seeking Following Disclosure of an Agent’s Unethical Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 77-96, August.
    14. Gomaa Agag, 2019. "E-commerce Ethics and Its Impact on Buyer Repurchase Intentions and Loyalty: An Empirical Study of Small and Medium Egyptian Businesses," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 389-410, January.
    15. Saptarshi Bhattacharya & Rajendra Prasad Sharma, 2022. "The Impact of Country of Origin, Trust, and Satisfaction on Online Purchase Intention in Emerging Markets: An Indian Perspective," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 11(1), pages 70-80, June.
    16. Millissa F. Y. Cheung & W. M. To, 2021. "The Effect of Consumer Perceptions of the Ethics of Retailers on Purchase Behavior and Word-of-Mouth: The Moderating Role of Ethical Beliefs," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(4), pages 771-788, July.
    17. Zohra Ghali-Zinoubi, 2023. "Online Retailers’ Perceived Ethics and Consumer Repetitive Purchases Under the Moderating Role of Reputation: A Commitment-Trust Theory Perspective," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    18. Roy, Vivek & Vijay, T. Sai & Srivastava, Abhishek, 2022. "The distinctive agenda of service failure recovery in e-tailing: Criticality of logistical / non-logistical service failure typologies and e-tailing ethics," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Mourelatos, Evangelos, 2021. "Personality and Ethics on Online Labor Markets: How mood influences ethical perceptions," EconStor Preprints 244735, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    20. Waqar Nadeem & Mari Juntunen & Nick Hajli & Mina Tajvidi, 2021. "The Role of Ethical Perceptions in Consumers’ Participation and Value Co-creation on Sharing Economy Platforms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 421-441, March.
    21. Ahmed Saiedalameen M. Almamy & Atul Mishra & Dababrata Chowdhury, 2022. "A Mixed-Method Approach to Examining the Drivers and Outcomes of Citizen Trust Towards E-Government," International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM), IGI Global, vol. 13(1), pages 1-27, January.
    22. Michaelidou, Nina & Micevski, Milena & Cadogan, John W., 2021. "Users’ ethical perceptions of social media research: Conceptualisation and measurement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 684-694.
    23. Varshneya, Geetika & Das, Gopal, 2017. "Experiential value: Multi-item scale development and validation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 48-57.

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