Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Do managerial ethics and legal education influence online privacy policies in Greater China?

  • Published:
Asian Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study evaluated the online privacy policies of business-to-consumer e-commerce firms in five industries of mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Based on the neo-institutional theory, we also tested whether the four institutional factors, (1) top management’s legal education, (2) managerial ethics, (3) rule of law in information privacy protection and (4) peer practices, had any effects on e-information and e-communication content. Results from a content analysis of 229 websites found that the privacy policy contents that complied with generally accepted privacy standards were lesser in mainland China firms than those of Taiwan and Hong Kong firms. There were also significant differences in the amount of contents among the five industries. The results of regression analyses showed the importance of all four factors on e-information content. They also showed the importance of coercive, mimetic, and normative isomorphisms on e-information content. The validation of normative isomorphism highlighted the importance of managerial ethics and legal education. Our findings supplemented extant literature which identified economic motive as the main factor in influencing privacy practice disclosures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aljukhadar, M., Senecal, S., & Ouellette, D. (2010). Can the media richness of a privacy disclosure enhance outcome? A multifaceted view of trust in rich media environments. International Journal of Electronic Commerce, 14(4), 103–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Au, N., & Law, R. (2012). Presentation formats of policy statements on hotel websites and privacy concerns: a multimedia learning theory perspective. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 37(4), 470–489.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bansal, G., Zahedi, F. M., & Gefen, D. (2015). The role of privacy assurance mechanisms in building trust and the moderating role of privacy concern. European Journal of Information Systems, 24(6), 624–644.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boritz, J. E., & No, W. G. (2011). E-commerce and privacy: exploring what we know and opportunities for future discovery. Journal of Information Systems, 25(2), 11–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Culnan, M. J., & Williams, C. C. (2009). How ethics can enhance organizational privacy: lessons from the choicepoint and TJX data breaches. MIS Quarterly, 33(4), 673–687.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, L. E., & North, D. C. (1971). Institutional change and American economic growth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • DiMaggio, P. J., & Powell, W. W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review, 48(2), 147–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Earp, J. B., Anton, A., Aiman-Smith, L., & Stufflebeam, W. H. (2005). Examining Internet privacy policies within the context of user privacy values. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 52(2), 227–237.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ermakova, T., Baumann, A., Fabian, B., & Krasnova, H. (2014). Privacy policies and users’ trust: does readability matter? In Twentieth Americas Conference on Information Systems. Savannah, 1–12.

  • Federal Trade Commission (2000, May). Privacy Online: Fair Information Practices in the electronic marketplace: A Federal Trade Commission Report to Congress. Retrieved from http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy2000/privacy2000.pdf

  • Gerlach, J., Widjaja, T., & Buxmann, P. (2015). Handle with care: how online social network providers’ privacy policies impact users’ information sharing behavior. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 24(1), 33–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., & Anderson, R. E. (2010). Multivariate data analysis. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsu, C., Lee, J. N., & Straub, D. W. (2012). Institutional influences on information systems security innovations. Information Systems Research, 23(3), part 2), 918–939.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, Q., Hart, P., & Cooke, D. (2007). The role of external and internal influences on information systems security—a neo-institutional perspective. Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 16(2), 153–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hui, K. L., Teo, H. H., & Lee, S. Y. T. (2007). The value of privacy assurance: an exploratory field experiment. MIS Quarterly, 31(1), 9–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huizingh, E. K. (2000). The content and design of web sites: an empirical study. Information Management, 37(3), 123–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Internet Live Stats (2016). Internet users by country. Retrieved from http://www.internetlivestats.com/internet-users-by-country/. Accessed 14 October 2016.

  • Judge, W., Li, S., & Pinsker, R. (2010). National adoption of international accounting standards: an institutional perspective. Corporate Governance: An International Review, 18(3), 161–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kauffman, R. J., Lee, Y. J., Prosch, M., & Steinbart, P. J. (2011). A survey of consumer information privacy from the accounting information systems perspective. Journal of Information Systems, 25(2), 47–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landwehr, C. (2016). Privacy research directions. Communications of the ACM, 59(2), 29–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu, C., & Arnett, K. P. (2002). Raising a red flag on global www privacy policies. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 43(1), 117–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matwyshyn, A. M. (2009). CSR and the corporate cyborg: ethical corporate information security practices. Journal of Business Ethics, 88(4), 579–594.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), 340–363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • OECD (2013). The OECD privacy framework. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/sti/ieconomy/oecd_privacy_framework.pdf. Accessed 22 April 2015.

  • Oxley, J. E., & Yeung, B. (2001). E-commerce readiness: institutional environment and international competitiveness. Journal of International Business Studies, 32(4), 705–723.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pan, Y., & Zinkhan, G. M. (2006). Exploring the impact of online privacy disclosures on consumer trust. Journal of Retailing, 82(4), 331–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peslak, A. R. (2006). Internet privacy policies of the largest international companies. Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, 4(3), 46–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pollach, I. (2007). What’s wrong with online privacy policies? Communications of the ACM, 50(9), 103–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Proctor, R. W., Ali, M. A., & Vu, K. P. L. (2008). Examining usability of web privacy policies. Intl. Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 24(3), 307–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, S. S., & Stylianou, A. C. (2003). Global corporate web sites: an empirical investigation of content and design. Information Management, 40(3), 205–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sarathy, R., & Robertson, C. J. (2003). Strategic and ethical considerations in managing digital privacy. Journal of Business Ethics, 46(2), 111–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwaig, K. S., Kane, G. C., & Storey, V. C. (2006). Compliance to the fair information practices: how are the Fortune 500 handling online privacy disclosures? Information Management, 43(7), 805–820.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shuai, J. J., & Wu, W. W. (2011). Evaluating the influence of E-marketing on hotel performance by DEA and grey entropy. Expert Systems with Applications, 38(7), 8763–8769.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Srivastava, S. C., Teo, T. S., & Subramanian, A. M. (2009). Rational versus institutional perspectives in organizational web sites. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 24(36), 615–638.

    Google Scholar 

  • Suchman, M. C. (1995). Managing legitimacy: strategic and institutional approaches. Academy of Management Review, 20(3), 571–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teodoro, M. P. (2014). When professionals lead: executive management, normative isomorphism, and policy implementation. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 24(4), 983–1004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsai, J. Y., Egelman, S., Cranor, L., & Acquisti, A. (2011). The effect of online privacy information on purchasing behavior: an experimental study. Information Systems Research, 22(2), 254–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Verrecchia, R. E. (1983). Discretionary disclosure. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 5, 179–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank Organization (2014). Worldwide governance indicators. Retrieved from http://databank.worldbank.org/data/reports.aspx?source=worldwide-governance-indicators#. Accessed 15 November 2015.

  • Wu, Y. (2015). Nearly 80 percent of Internet users suffer identity leaks. China Daily. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-07/24/content_21400381.htm. Accessed 5 September 2016.

  • Xinhua (2013). China amends consumer rights law. China.org.cn . http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-10/25/content_30407405.htm. Accessed 9 September 2015.

  • Xu, H., Dinev, T., Smith, J., & Hart, P. (2011). Information privacy concerns: linking individual perceptions with institutional privacy assurances. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 12(12), 798–824.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang, H. L., & Chiu, H. K. (2002). Privacy disclosures of web sites in Taiwan. Journal of Information Technology Theory and Application, 4(3), 16–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang, M. H., Chandlrees, N., Lin, B., & Chao, H. Y. (2009). The effect of perceived ethical performance of shopping websites on consumer trust. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 50(1), 15–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeng, S. X., Xu, X. D., Yin, H. T., & Tam, C. M. (2012). Factors that drive Chinese listed companies in voluntary disclosure of environmental information. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(3), 309–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Accounting and Finance, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    David C. Li

Authors
  1. David C. Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David C. Li.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, D.C. Do managerial ethics and legal education influence online privacy policies in Greater China?. Asian J Bus Ethics 7, 117–136 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-017-0080-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13520-017-0080-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation