An Examination of Korean Consumers' Sentiments Toward Technology-Based Business Practices

Ethics has been gaining broad recognition as a critical component in the determination of the success of new technology. Yet, there is a surprising paucity of research that explicitly deals with the ethical aspect of technology-based marketing initiatives. This study explores South Korean consumers' general sentiment toward array of technomarketing initiatives and delineates sub-dimensions of the ethical acceptability construct as it relates to those initiatives. Analyses confirm the situational nature of ethics; some techniques such as loyalty cards and self-service checkouts are broadly embraced while others such as the use of spam and placing bogus online reviews are generally disdained. The latent dimensional structure pertaining to the ethics of technology-based marketing initiatives consists of three sub-dimensions: tracking, information, and e-solicitation. Managerial implications and directions for future research are provided.