PERCEIVED UNETHICAL E-STORE CONDUCT NEGATIVELY IMPACTS REPUTATION AND OPPORTUNITIES - Is it worth it?

摘要

What is the extent to which ethical conduct by e-stores impacts their reputation and, in turn, their business opportunities? Employing the ethical factors of: (i) accurate product description, (ii) e-vendor accountability and (iii) data privacy and security, we assess e-stores' ethical conduct. 174 e-stores engaged in business to consumer retail are surveyed. A comparative website which compares the products or services and prices of e-stores and scores their reputation amongst e-consumers is utilized. The ratings attained by e-stores with respect to the ethical factors, reputation and number of actual buyers are studied. The findings of the study indicate that the perceived unethical conduct of e-stores is highly correlated (0.38) with a negative reputation, which results, in turn, in relatively fewer actual buyers (correlation of 0.43).