Perspectives of business process ethics in data‐driven marketing management

Abstract

In today's digitalized world, people leave trails of data about themselves when operating online. While marketers are eagerly utilizing this data for marketing insights, many consumers have a growing fear of their personal data ending up in the wrong hands and losing their privacy. The aim of this study was to understand the role of ethics in current marketing based on consumer data and to examine how data could be used ethically in marketing. The empirical research was conducted by analyzing secondary data from a 2018 survey about the use of digital services in Europe. The main conclusions that can be drawn from study findings are that the need for ethics is even more apparent in marketing than ever before, because of the broad access to personal data. Giving the consumers the ability to opt‐out from data use and data selling without it affecting the use of services can create an enormous competitive advantage for organizations in the future.