Privacy matters: impact of ethical organization care and government regulations on customer patronage

Abstract

PurposeThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic has given an upsurge to online retailing in Pakistan. This shift has escalated the issues about privacy concerns among consumers. Keeping in view the growing concerns, the objective of this study is to investigate customer patronage in online shopping and the role of privacy concerns in this relationship.Design/methodology/approachTo generalize the relationship between antecedents and outcomes of privacy concerns, a cross-disciplinary macro model was used. Data were collected through a survey method from the consumers who used credit and debit cards during online shopping.FindingsResults show that government regulations have a significant positive relationship with privacy concerns and customer patronage. Privacy concerns are found to have a significant negative relationship with organizational ethical care while customer patronage was found to have a significant positive relationship with organizational ethical care. Customer patronage was also found to have a significant negative relationship with privacy concerns. Privacy concerns mediated the relationship between government regulations and customer patronage, whereas privacy concerns does not mediate the relationship between organizational ethical care and customer patronage.Originality/valueThe research adds to the existing literature and highlights the customer behavior toward online shopping/e-commerce in developing economies. The research gives a direction to stakeholders to counter privacy concerns and ensure safer e-commerce practices.