Title:	DOES ETHICS MATTER TO E-CONSUMERS: A CROSS CULTURAL DIMENSION
Author(s):	Avshalom M. Adam, Avshalom Aderet, Arik Sadeh
ISBN:	978-972-8939-67-0
Editors:	Piet Kommers and Pedro Isaías
Year:	2012
Edition:	Single
Keywords:	eCommerce ethics, e-consumers, multi-culture, eBusiness, trust
Type:	Full Paper
First Page:	201
Last Page:	210
Language:	English
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Full Contents:	click to dowload
Paper Abstract:	In a previous study we explored the ethical aspects of e-commerce in Israel (Adam et al., 2007), we found that e-consumers (Israeli Jews) are willing in certain situations to overlook the ethical aspects of an online transaction and are willing proceed to purchase a product amid the risk. This result was unexpected since we assumed that e-consumers’ perceived good ethical conduct of e-vendor is a prerequisite for an electronic purchase. After a repeat of the study in which the unexpected result was repeated, we hypothesized that that result is perhaps unique to the e-consumers culture in which the research has been made; the e-consumers we investigated were Israeli Jews. In the present study we aimed to test this hypothesis. Given that Israel is a multicultural society, and that Israeli Arabs and Jews are considered as two distinct cultures (See Pines, 2003 and Pines and Zaidman, 2003), we sought to compare between the two groups of e-consumers Israeli Arabs and Jews. We were expecting a discovery of a variance between the ethical inclinations of these e-consumers groups. The methodology of the study aimed to unpack the ethical dimensions of online transactions in conflict situations between commercial and ethical factors. We used a set of mixed factors: Two commercial factors (product price and quality) and three ethical factors pertaining to the conduct of the e-vendor (assuring e-consumer privacy and security, guaranteeing e-vendor accountability, and accurate product description). In contradistinction with our expectations, the results are quite similar. In (Adam et al., 2007) our findings it was indicated that when e-consumers are confronted with a conflict situation in which the quality of a product and its price make it an attractive purchase (commercial factors), and yet the website espouses unfair business practices - as expressed in ignoring values such as accurate product description, e-vendor's accountability, and preserving consumer privacy and security - e-consumers are generally willing to ignore the unfair practices. In the present study, no significant difference was found between two different cultures, Israeli Arabs and Jews. In both cultures the e-consumers share in common the preferences to commercial factors over ethical factors in their inclination to purchase in the e-market. This study of e-consumers' ethical attitudes across digital cultures is done in unexplored terrain, perhaps, a comparative study among other cultures may offer other insights regarding the ethical dimension of a purchase in e-commerce transaction. Does ethics really matter to e-consumers.
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