Measuring perceived EC ethics using a transaction-process-based approach: Scale development and validation

Concerns regarding ethical issues associated with online shopping are growing. Based on a framework that captures all stages of a transactional process, this study developed a transaction process-based scale, the eTransEthics scale, for assessing the consumer-perceived ethics of e-commerce websites. The results of applying exploratory factor analysis to data from 406 online shoppers indicate that eTransEthics comprises sales behavior, privacy, security, fulfillment, and service recovery. Data obtained from another sample of 548 online shoppers are utilized to confirm the exploratory factor analysis results using structural modeling techniques. These modeling results demonstrate that the scale has good construct validity and nomological validity. The analytical findings suggest that our scale is strongly predictive of consumer satisfaction and loyalty. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.