Apparent Customers Ethics Espoused by Supply Chain Patrons in E-Marketing

Abstract

Over a period of time especially the contemporary era had induced the online or E-marketing. E-marketing can lead to frauds, trickery, lacerating, duplication and many unethical practices. The purpose of this article is to discover the extent of customers’ apparent ethics and values adopted by supply chain patrons and e-marketers while dealing with customers wherein 200 customers were contacted in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and quested with the help of Likert scale questionnaire denoting the customers’ apparent ethical practices adopted by supply chain parties/e-marketers for attaining response. The reliability and validity of data were assessed with the help of different measures. The exploratory factor analysis enumerated the variables into four factors, that is, safety, non-deception, dependability and privacy. The findings indicated that customers apparent supply chain ethics in e-marketing as moderately ethical and suggested for additional safety, privacy and dependability by designing ethical codes, disseminating the unethical practices of supply chain parties via media and positive responsibility of regulatory bodies in endorsing supply chain ethics in e-marketing in order to preserve stakeholders interest. The finding further suggested that adoption of ethical practices results in higher customer satisfaction; improved performance and positive and constructive words of mouth thus inducing trust, cooperation, commitment and loyalty to supply chain parties and e-marketers. Against this, the unethical practices lead to dissatisfied customers, poor performance and negative words of mouth for supply chain parties and e-marketers that can put stigma onto business image with its supply chain stakeholders.

Keywords: Customers, E-Marketing, Ethics, Stakeholders, Supply Chain

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