Customer perceived ethicality and electronic word of mouth approach to customer loyalty: the mediating role of customer trust

• Date: 30 August 2024
• Pages: 258-278
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-03-2024-0088
• Published date: 30 August 2024
• Subject Matter: Economics,Social economics
• Author: Saeed Aldulaimi,Swati Soni,Isha Kampoowale,Gopala Krishnan,Mohd Shukri Ab Yajid,Ali Khatibi,Deepak Minhas,Meenu Khurana

Customer perceived ethicality and

electronic word of mouth approach to

customer loyalty: the mediating role

of customer trust

Saeed Aldulaimi

College of Administrative Sciences, Applied Science University,

East Al-Ekir –Kingdom of Bahrain, Bahrain

Swati Soni

Department of Marketing, Jaipuria Institute of Management, Jaipur, India

Isha Kampoowale

Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,

Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia

Gopala Krishnan

Department of Management, School of Management –PG,

JAIN (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India

Mohd Shukri Ab Yajid and Ali Khatibi

Department of Postgraduate Centre, Management and Science University,

Shah Alam, Malaysia

Deepak Minhas

Chitkara Centre for Research and Development,

Chitkara University –Himachal Pradesh, Pinjore, India, and

Meenu Khurana

Centre of Research Impact and Outreach, Chitkara University,Rajpura, India

Abstract

Purpose –Drawing from stakeholder(ST) and social exchange theory (SET), the purpose of this study is to

examine the relationship betweencustomer perceived ethicality (CPE), electronic word of mouth (eWOM),

customer trust (CT) and customer loyalty (CL). Furthermore,this study aimed to understand the dual role of

CPE and eWOM in obtaining CTand achieving CL.

Design/methodology/approach –Using a quantitative,cross-sectional research design,data were collected

from face-to-face surveys, yielding 358 responses. The partial least square algorithm was used to test the

proposedhypothesis.

Findings –The analysis revealedthat CPE and eWOM positively affect CTand CL, and CT has a mediating

effect on the associationbetween CPE–CL and eWOM–CL. CT was alsofound to positively affect CL.

Funding: This research received no external funding.

IJOES

41,1

258

Received29 March 2024

Revised31 May 2024

15July 2024

Accepted4 August 2024

InternationalJournal of Ethics and

Systems

Vol.41 No. 1, 2025

pp. 258-278

© Emerald Publishing Limited

2514-9369

DOI 10.1108/IJOES-03-2024-0088

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9369.htm

Practical implications –Hotel managers can prioritizeethical practices and leverage the power of eWOM

to build trust and achieve loyalty. This integrated approach not only enhances customer satisfaction and

retentionbut also creates a competitive advantage.

Originality/value –The novelty of this study lies in the investigation of the dual role played by CPE and

eWOM as antecedents of CT and CL withinthe hotel industry. Finally, this study explainsthe drivers of CT

and CL, therebymaking a novel contribution to the literature.

Keywords Customer perceived ethicality, Electronic word of mouth, Customer trust and loyalty

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

In today’s competitive business landscape, a brand’s reputation depends on how f‌irms

address ethical and societal concerns at the corporate level (Sierra et al., 2017). This is

because ethical consumerism has increased rapidly (Batool et al., 2023), and consumers

expect organizations to be socially and ethically responsible (Geng et al., 2022).

Consequently, brands are compelled to adopt ethical practices and communicate their

ethicality to stakeholders (Fatma and Rahman, 2017). The adoption of ethical practices

yields many benef‌its, including enhancing brand image, attitude, customer trust (CT) and

loyalty. According to Fan (2005), ethical brands have certain attributes such as integrity,

honesty, accountability and responsibility.Extensive literature has demonstrated that brands

must exhibit ethical behavior (Singh et al., 2012) because stakeholders demand that brands

should ref‌lect ethical concerns. Particularly within the service industry, it is important to act

ethically, as there are many touch points across which customers interact with employees

(Grönroos, 2006). Despite the signif‌icance of brand ethicality, there is a paucity of research

exists on its impact on the service industry(Shah et al., 2020;Singh et al., 2012). Moreover,

within the service sector, service companies require both CT and customer loyalty (CL);

therefore, they mayrequire business ethics and corporate strategies (Shahet al., 2020).

In addition to customer perceived ethicality (CPE), electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is

equally important in the in-service sector (Sánchez-González and González-Fernández, 2021;

Serra-Cantallops et al.,2020). There is no doubt that the purchasing of goods and services from

the internet has increased rapidly, and users who purchase online goods and services are more

dependable and give weight to the personal experience of other user s in the buying process

(Sánchez-González and González-Fernández, 2021). eWOM refers to negative and positive

comments made by customers related to a brand, company or product (Mathews et al., 2022).

The easy access and scope of eWOM can strongly affect f‌irm performance. Therefore,

companies are more focused on studying the effects of eWOM (Serra-Cantallops et al.,2020).

From an academic perspective, a vast majority of researchers have conf‌irmed eWOM’s

inf‌luence on loyalty (Serra-Cantallops et al.,2018), customer reservation decisions

(Soliman et al.,2022), intention to revisit (Salah et al.,2023) and purchase intention (Ve rma

et al.,2023). According to Nieto-García et al. (2017), positive eWOM affects willingness to pay

more for hotel services. Bearing this in mind, positive eWOM generates a volume of reviews

and opinions about hotel services; thus, positive eWOM is a top priority for hotel marketing

managers. Despite its importance, the role of eWOM in the service industry has received little

attention (Sánchez-González and González-Fernández, 2021;Serra-Cantallops et al.,2020).

India has a rich cultural and historical heritage, a variety of terrains and places of natural

beauty, providing an opportunity to take advantage of the potential of tourism. It is widely

acknowledged that the tourism and hospitality sector is the catalyst for India’s socioeconomic

growth and a source of foreign revenue. The government has helped the tourism and hospitality

industries recover from the COVID pandemic. In 2021, the GDP contribution of the travel and

International

Journal of Ethics

and Systems

259