Ethical Issues in E-Commerce : A renewed analysis based on the multiplicity of customer relationships

• Although ethical issues in e-commerce have received increased interest in recent years, the relational context between e-vendor and e-customer has remained relatively unproblematized. Rather than assuming an anonymous interface between e-vendor and e-customer, with specific ethical issues related to it, we examine a case of a hybrid organizational context where physical stores within the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector use an intermediary to sell goods via e-commerce. The co-existence of physical stores and Internet solutions creates multiple relationships to customers and, as we argue, ethical problems of partly different kind compared to the ones identified in the literature. In the article, both the nature of the relationships between e-vendor and e-customer is analysed and ethical issues related to these relationships identified. From a theoretical point of view, the article widens the discussion on e-commerce ethics from a relational perspective inspired by Martin Buber’s philosophy.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Buber

E-commerce

Ethics

Internet

Relation

Business Studies

Företagsekonomi

Business Studies

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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