IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/buseth/v34y2025i4p1966-1972.html

Ethical Ramifications of the Dark Side of Business Practices in the International Business Area

Author

Listed:
  • Nebojsa S. Davcik
  • Piyush Sharma
  • Stefan Markovic

Abstract

The dark side of international business practices has attracted significant research attention recently. However, researchers are struggling to delve into the ethical ramifications of these practices because of a limited understanding of ethical and digital transformation issues in international business, which may be caused, inter alia, by sociocultural and market disparities, lack of regulatory frameworks, information asymmetries, data ubiquity, and power imbalance among key stakeholders. This paper addresses this important gap through four key themes—ethical considerations, data processing issues, legal considerations, and managerial contingencies. We discuss how to step forward in research on ethics in international business, assessing potential risks associated with privacy concerns, big data, cybersecurity, content analysis, stakeholder relationships, and discriminatory outcomes. Finally, we propose a research agenda and recommendations to address the ethical challenges and dilemmas international businesses face due to disruptive technologies (e.g., artificial intelligence) and cross‐market challenges (e.g., legal jurisdictions).

Suggested Citation

  • Nebojsa S. Davcik & Piyush Sharma & Stefan Markovic, 2025. "Ethical Ramifications of the Dark Side of Business Practices in the International Business Area," Business Ethics, the Environment & Responsibility, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 1966-1972, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:buseth:v:34:y:2025:i:4:p:1966-1972
    DOI: 10.1111/beer.12747
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/beer.12747
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/beer.12747?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Noordhoff, C.S. & Kyriakopoulos, K. & Moorman, C. & Pauwels, P. & Dellaert, B.G.C., 2011. "The Bright Side and Dark Side of Embedded Ties In Business-to-Business Innovation," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2011-008-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    2. Stefan Markovic & Oriol Iglesias & Jatinder Jit Singh & Vicenta Sierra, 2018. "How does the Perceived Ethicality of Corporate Services Brands Influence Loyalty and Positive Word-of-Mouth? Analyzing the Roles of Empathy, Affective Commitment, and Perceived Quality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 148(4), pages 721-740, April.
    3. Cheng, Louis T.W. & Sharma, Piyush & Shen, Jianfu & Ng, Allen C.C., 2021. "Exploring the dark side of third-party certification effect in B2B relationships: A professional financial services perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 123-136.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Henry M. H. Chan & Vincent W. S. Cho, 2022. "An Empirical Study: The Impact of Collaborative Communications on New Product Creativity That Contributes to New Product Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-17, April.
    2. Ghasem Zaefarian & Constantine S. Katsikeas & Zhaleh Najafi-Tavani & Matthew J. Robson, 2025. "Unpacking when and how customer involvement as co-developer affects supplier new product performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 876-906, May.
    3. Anna Adamik & Michał Nowicki, 2019. "Pathologies and Paradoxes of Co-Creation: A Contribution to the Discussion about Corporate Social Responsibility in Building a Competitive Advantage in the Age of Industry 4.0," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-38, September.
    4. Kim, Yeonshin & Hur, Won-Moo & Lee, Luri, 2023. "Understanding customer participation in CSR activities: The impact of perceptions of CSR, affective commitment, brand equity, and corporate reputation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Ashwin W. Joshi, 2017. "OEM implementation of supplier-developed component innovations: the role of supplier actions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 548-568, July.
    6. Malik, Ashish & Mahadevan, Jasmin & Sharma, Piyush & Nguyen, Tuyet-Mai, 2021. "Masking, claiming and preventing innovation in cross-border B2B relationships: Neo-colonial frameworks of power in global IT industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 327-339.
    7. Tarcia Camily Cavalcante Quezado & Nuno Fortes & William Quezado Figueiredo Cavalcante, 2022. "The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics on Brand Fidelity: The Importance of Brand Love and Brand Attitude," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, March.
    8. Sanjay Chaudhary & Amandeep Dhir & Duc Khuong Nguyen & Enrico Battisti & Puneet Kaur, 2025. "Exploring Family Values, Religion, and Ethical Behavior in Family Businesses: A Multi-Stage Qualitative Investigation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 198(4), pages 865-891, May.
    9. Jean, Ruey Jer “Bryan” & Kim, Daekwan & Bello, Daniel C., 2017. "Relationship-based product innovations: Evidence from the global supply chain," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 127-140.
    10. Yuqiang Mai & Hualong Yang & Guangyu Zhang, 2020. "Does Business Model Innovation Enhance the Sustainable Development of New Ventures? Understanding an Inverted-U Relationship," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Yingxiao Li & Jianheng Zhou, 2023. "Modeling the relationship between fairness concern and customer loyalty in dual distribution channel," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 1-25, January.
    12. Arunachalam, S. & Ramaswami, Sridhar N. & Patel, Pankaj C. & Chai, Linlin, 2022. "Innovation-based strategic flexibility (ISF): Role of CEO ties with marketing and R&D," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 927-946.
    13. Jose Ribamar Siqueira Junior & Enrique Horst & German Molina & Laura H. Gunn & Felipe Reinoso-Carvalho & Burcu Sezen & Nathalie Peña-García, 2023. "Branding in the eye of the storm: the impact of brand ethical behavior on brand commitment during the COVID-19 crisis in a South American country," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 95-115, March.
    14. Tierney, Kieran D. & Oswald Karpen, Ingo & Westberg, Kate, 2022. "Brand meaning and institutional work: The light and dark sides of service employee practices," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 244-256.
    15. Sean Yim & Brett Josephson & Jean Johnson & Sanjay Sisodiya, 2015. "Interfirm Relational Strategies and Innovation: the Role of Interfirm Relational Traits and Firm Resources," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 2(3), pages 230-244, September.
    16. Arora, Ashish & Athreye, Suma & Huang, Can, 2016. "The paradox of openness revisited: Collaborative innovation and patenting by UK innovators," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 1352-1361.
    17. Zhang, De-Peng & Yang, Chen-hui & Zhang, Feng-Hua, 2014. "Analysis of the equity preference influence in customer participation incentives," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1-8.
    18. Scaringella, Laurent & Miles, Raymond E. & Truong, Yann, 2017. "Customers involvement and firm absorptive capacity in radical innovation: The case of technological spin-offs," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 144-162.
    19. Jill Atkins & Federica Doni & Andrea Gasperini & Sonia Artuso & Ilaria Torre & Lorena Sorrentino, 2023. "Exploring the Effectiveness of Sustainability Measurement: Which ESG Metrics Will Survive COVID-19?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 629-646, July.
    20. Jan Johanson & Martin Johanson, 2021. "Speed and synchronization in foreign market network entry: A note on the revisited Uppsala model," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(8), pages 1628-1645, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:buseth:v:34:y:2025:i:4:p:1966-1972. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/26946424 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.