Brand ethics and social media engagement

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate ethical nature of social media engagement of companies and examines whether or not ethical perception of customers about the companies based on their social media activity and their actual ethical performance make an impact on consumer preferences. Social media engagement of preferred brands/companies and customers is analysed from the perspective of ethics, ethical behaviour, and ethical perception. One of the major findings of this research is that ethical performance positively affects consumer preferences. According to data analysis ethical policies and social media engagement of companies, have direct effects on ethical performance, thus ethical performance positively affects consumer preferences. Moreover, the research indicates that consumer awareness of ethical practices positively affects consumer preferences. The effects of ethical policies on ethical performance are also examined in this research and a positive direct relationship has been disclosed. The research also reveals the positive relationship between social media engagement and consumer awareness.