Digital transparency: Dimensions, antecedents and consequences on the quality of customer relationships

Abstract

This research focuses on transparency in a digital environment, examines how it is perceived by customers through different evaluations (perceived clarity, objectivity, and openness), and examines how each of these dimensions affects customer trust and engagement to the brand. It pointed out that judgments of transparency differ according to the relationship that consumers have personally developed with their digital environment (literacy, consumer acumen, and concern for privacy). Based on an empirical study conducted in e-commerce ( N = 445), the results show that perceived clarity – unlike perceived objectivity – is accompanied by a decline in trust and has a direct impact on engagement. On the contrary, perceived openness encourages engagement but not trust. This research highlights how consumer literacy and consumer acumen promote the perception of transparency, while concern for privacy degrades it. Theoretical and practical implications are then drawn from this research.

Online Customer Engagement: A Systematic Literature Review using PRISMA protocol

“…Some recent systematic reviews related to OCE ( [71], [22]) were limited to bibliometric analysis. Another recent systematic review presented by Saikia et al [72] focuses on theories, context, characteristics, and methods. However, our review will handle content review to identify the factors that influence customer engagement in social media.…”

“…Clarity enables consumers to understand the company's actions and intentions so that they can decode and interpret perceived information [65]. According to a qualitative study by Portes et al, [120] [121], clarity is composed of three essential dimensions, namely: Intelligibility of information, visibility of information, and contextualization of information.…”

The influence of logistics value on consumer satisfaction in the context of digital literacy

“…Ovi termini se odnose na sposobnost potrošača da razumeju digitalni svet, kao i na njihovu motivaciju da nauče više. (Portes et al, 2020). Pametni, oštroumni potrošači su u stanju da postavljaju prava pitanja (Charan, 2006).…”

“…Na zadovoljstvo kupaca veoma utiče profesionalizam korisničke podrške putem slušanja kupaca i razumevanja njihovih potreba (Nisar & Prabhakar, 2017). Ranije istraživanje koje se bavilo digitalnom pismenošću došlo je do saznanja da objektivnost i otvorenost pozitivno utiče na e-pismenost, ali da digitalna pismenost ne podrazumeva i razumevanje okolnosti, odnosno konteksta (Portes et al, 2020). Autori koji su istraživali digitalnu pismenost naglašavaju da je neophodno ulagati u logističke sposobnosti organizacije (Fernandes, Moori & Vitorino Filho, 2018).…”

Monitoring digital election campaigns: Assessing the transparency ecosystem in the United Kingdom

“…Proposed by policymakers (Dommett, 2020), platform companies (Leerssen et al, 2019), and civil society groups (Privacy International, n.d.), transparency intuitively appears to be a ‘self-evident good’ (Etzioni, 2010: 389), and yet it is less clear what new forms of transparency are desired and where existing resources fall down. This line of questioning is vital to minimise unintended effects (Cucciniello et al, 2016; Fenster, 2015; Grimmelikhuijsen and Meijer, 2014; Meijer, 2013: 431; Portes et al, 2020; Worthy, 2010) and ensure effective transparency reform. While some existing analyses have begun to examine the deficiencies of particular transparency initiatives (i.e.…”