Ethical considerations of service organizations in the information age
信息时代服务组织的道德思考

Figures & data

Table 1. A non-exhaustive list of high impact articles focused on service ethics.

Authors	Year	Theme	Methodology
Adel et al.	2019	Corporate social responsibility disclosures of European listed businesses	Quantitative (Tobit regression analysis)
Agag	2019	Business-to-business electronic commerce	Quantitative (partial least squares structural equations modeling)
Arthur and Owen	2019	Big data in the financial services industry	Ethnographic study
Beisland et al.	2021	Social enterprises in the microfinance industry	Quantitative (multivariate regression analysis)
Belk	2021	Service robots and artificial intelligence	Literature review (discursive)
Boiral et al.	2019	Assurance of sustainability reports	Qualitative (interviews)
Bourdeau et al.	2019	Work–life balance policies	Literature review (discursive)
Breidbach and Maglio	2020	Data-driven business models	Discursive
Brooks et al.	2019	Ethics in finance research	Descriptive
Campbell et al.	2020	Artificial intelligence	Literature review (discursive)
Chai and Scully	2019	Labor issues in the sharing economy	Discursive
Chang et al.	2020	Financial technology (Blockchain)	Qualitative (interviews with experts)
Chih et al.	2019	Professional service projects	Qualitative (semi structured interviews)
Du and Xie	2021	Ethics in artificial intelligence	Literature review (discursive)
Fatma et al.	2020	Corporate social responsibility of ride-sharing service providers	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Francis and Keegan	2020	Workforce engagement in a health charity	Qualitative (open-ended questions)
García-Sánchez et al.	2019	Sustainability accounting, audit and assurance	Quantitative (logistic and ordinal regression analysis)
Gillett et al.	2019	Hybrid collaboration between social enterprises and a local government entity	Qualitative (semi structured interviews and focus groups)
Groß and Vriens	2019	Multi-level marketing companies	Discursive
Hennchen	2019	Food waste	Qualitative (interviews)
Hentzen et al.	2022	The use of artificial intelligence in customer services	Literature review
Iglesias et al.	2019	Corporate service brand ethics	Quantitative (partial least squares structural equations modeling)
Islam et al.	2021a	Islamic work ethic in Pakistani service-based and manufacturing firms	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Islam et al.	2021b	Abusive supervision in the workplace	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Jeon et al.	2020	Ride-sharing services	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Latan et al.	2019	Ethical awareness, ethical judgment and whistleblowing	Quantitative (partial least squares structural equations modeling)
Lee	2020	Organizational culture and ethical behaviors in the healthcare sector	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Lips-Wiersma et al.	2020	Meaningful work – ethics intersection	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Lucivero	2020	Big data governance	Literature review (discursive)
Merfeld et al.	2019	Ride-sharing services (through autonomous vehicles)	Qualitative (interviews with experts)
Munoko et al.	2020	Artificial intelligence (in accounting, auditing and advisory services)	Literature review (bibliometric analysis)
Nadeem and Al-Imamy	2020	Ethical perceptions of sharing economy platforms	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Nadeem et al.	2021	Ethical perceptions of sharing economy platforms	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Naseer et al.	2020	Counterproductive organizational behaviors	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Parsons et al.	2021	Value cocreation in food poverty organizations	Multi-method ethnography including observations, discussions and interviews
Riivari and Lämsä	2019	Organizational ethical virtues of innovativeness	Qualitative (interviews)
Robinson	2020	Artificial intelligence policy	Qualitative (textual analysis)
Rymarczyk	2020	Industrial revolution (IR 4.0)	Literature review (discursive)
Sansone et al.	2020	Incubators supporting start-ups for social impact	Quantitative (ordinary least squares regression analysis)
Schwepker and Dimitriou	2021	Ethical leadership and service quality	Quantitative (covariance based structural equations modeling)
Spence	2019	Neuroscience	Literature review (discursive)
Vo et al.	2019	Communications in the airline industry	Quantitative (partial least squares structural equations modeling)

Note: This list features the most cited articles that were published between January 2019 to September 2023. They are sorted in alphabetical order.

Table 2. A future agenda for service ethics research.

Research themes	Research fields of study	Theorical bases		Possible methodologies
The service organizations’ ethical leadership culture	Artificially intelligent chatbots and dialogue systems (including Generative AI technologies)	Affective event theory	Attributional theory	Ethnographic and observational studies
		Behavioral reasoning theory	Commitment-trust theory	Literature review (descriptive and discursive)
		Conservation of resources theory	Consequentialism theory	Qualitative (interviews)
The service organizations’ commitment for ethical responsibilities	Big data, analytics and data-driven technologies	Deontological theory	Emotional labor theory	Qualitative (focus groups)
		Ethical theory	Ethical theory of organizing	Quantitative (multivariate regression analysis)
		Ethical value theory or Value theory	Experiential learning theory	Quantitative (composite-based structural equations modeling)
	Electronic commerce (business-to- consumer AND business-to business)	Fairness theory	Humanizing experience theory
		Human capital theory	Institutional theory
The service organizations’ trustworthiness of their ethical responsibilities, environmental, social and governance (ESG) credentials	Financial technologies including Blockchain and crowdfunding platforms	Justice theory	Labor process theory	Quantitative (covariance-based structural equations modeling)
	Information, communications and media technologies	Multiple agency theory	Norm of reciprocity theory	Quantitative (regression analysis)
		Practice theory	Rights theory
		Service-dominant logic theory	Signaling theory
		Social cognition theory	Social exchange theory
			Social learning theory
The service organizations’ ethical responsibilities and ESG accounting, reporting and assurance	Service robots	Social identity theory	Stakeholder theory
	The sharing economy and the gig economy (food delivery and ride-sharing services)	Social norm theory	Theory of communicative/deliberative democracy
		Theory of planned behavior	Utilitarianism theory
	Virtual reality and the Metaverse	Theory of positivity/Theory of positive emotions	Virtues theory

(Developed by the authors).

Table

Theory	Definition
Affective event theory	The affective events theory suggests that the employees’ personal emotions, moods as well as cognitive-based behaviors could influence their organizational commitment and performance. It presumes that there is a strong relationship between their psychological states of mind and their work behaviors, as positive-inducing and/or negative-inducing incidents at work can have a significant influence on the employees’ morale and job satisfaction. In other words, the workers’ intrinsic feelings as well as their external affective reactions are evidenced through their organizational behaviors and job productivity levels
Attributional theory	The attribution theory seeks to clarify causes and effects of social phenomena, as individuals are motivated to use information to form judgements and draw conclusions. Persons may believe that dispositional attributes (internal causes) like personality traits, intelligence, etc., and/or situational factors (external causes) including race, gender and class can explain causal consequences, as they usually want to determine why outcomes occurred
Behavioral reasoning theory	The behavioral reasoning theory postulates that there may be different reasons (in favor or against specific issues) that can explain the individuals’ perceptions and attitudes (towards them), as well as their motivations and intentional behaviors
Commitment-trust theory	The commitment-trust theory posits that both commitment and trust are crucial for the development of successful relationships. Its proponents argue that businesses ought to honor their commitments with stakeholders including customers. They indicate that for-profit organizations are expected to meet and exceed their consumers’ expectations in order to forge long-lasting bonds with them. Consequentially, the businesses that deliver on their promises will be trusted by customers and would benefit from their committed relationships, in the long run
Conservation of resources theory	The conservation of resources theory indicates that certain tasks and duties necessitate that individuals devote their time as well as their cognitive capabilities and physical energies. In an organizational context, this theory commends that employers ought to look after their resources. It implies that business leaders can nurture their human resources’ mental health and wellbeing by providing regular breaks to reduce stress and anxieties. This way, they will be in a better position to improve their employees’ productivity
Consequentialism theory	The consequentialism theory infers that while right actions bring positive outcomes, wrong actions can cause more harm than benefits, and could result in negative repercussions. This theory suggests that good behaviors will usually generate a greater balance of positive over negative outcomes
Deontological theory	The deontological theory involves moral reasoning that distinguishes between right and wrongdoing. It is intended to guide ethical actions. This theory is based on a set of rules and principles that are usually drawn from cultural and/or religious values (these values may be different than personal values)
Emotional labor theory	The emotional labor theory is manifested when employees engage in posturing behaviors or when they suppress emotions to present themselves in a way that is expected by institutions, organizations or other social structures. Emotional labor requires that individual employees manage personal expressions and mask their inherent feelings during interactions with other people, including coworkers, customers and managers, according to their employers’ demands. Hence, the members of staff’s duties and responsibilities are to display specific emotions during their interactions with others in their workplace environments, as a partial requirement of their job. They may be coerced to do so by their management, who would usually provide them with formal and informal training and development to comply with their work ethic
Ethical theory	Ethical theory involves philosophical attempts that are intended to provide normative and moral guidelines about acceptable and unacceptable behaviors. Various commentators argue that it usually comprises four different lines of thought including deontology, utilitarianism, rights and virtues
Ethical theory of organizing	The ethical theory of organizing suggests that commercial organizations have environmental, social and governance responsibilities in addition to achieving their financial objectives through revenue generation and profit maximization
Ethical value theory or Value theory (in Ethics)	The ethical value theory involves various approaches that clarify how, why and to what extent individuals value moral goods like other people and their ideas, as well as natural goods like objects. It infers that both ethical and economic goods add value to our society (even though it may appear that there is a conflict between these two areas)
Experiential learning theory or Humanizing experience theory	The experiential learning theory is focused on the idea that individuals learn through experiences and environmental factors. They acquire cognitive and emotional knowledge by trying things out, through reflective observations that relate past experiences with conceptual understandings, by transforming perceptions into abstract concepts, as well as via ongoing experiments that involve testing new ideas to improve skills and competences
Fairness theory	The fairness theory suggests that societies (as well as their institutions and organizations) are just when they are transparent and accountable. Various jurisdictions (and businesses) may rely on certain principles and ethical standards to ensure that they are consistently treating their citizens or other parties (including employees) in an equal, fair and equitable manner. The ideal is that everyone should have fair access to the same opportunities
Favoritism theory	The favoritism theory posits that someone in an authoritative position (including in public administration and/or in business contexts) could facilitate a group of persons or specific individuals as they offer them an unfair preferential treatment at the expense of others
Human capital theory	The human capital theory is an economic theory that posits that institutions and organizations ought to incentivize their human resources by providing ongoing education and training opportunities to them. It postulates that it is in the interest of employers (in public administration and/or in business contexts) to nurture their employees with relevant knowledge, skills and competences, if they want them to be efficient and productive in their workplace environments
Institutional theory	The institutional theory is a management theory in sociology and organizational studies, focused on the institutions and organizations’ social structures and on their authoritative guidelines based on specific rules, norms and routines, that are intended to improve their productivity, ethics and legitimacy in society. It clarifies that institutions are culturally cognitive and normative in nature. Their resources, associated activities including social, environmental and technological processes are regulated, diffused, adopted and adapted, to provide stability and meaning to social life
Justice theory	The justice theory suggests that all individuals have an equal right to basic liberties, and that they ought to be given the same opportunities as other persons of similar abilities. It posits that society could be structured in a way where every member should benefit from as much liberty as possible (without infringing on the liberty of some of its members) as well as from a socially-just distribution of goods in a society
Labor process theory	Labor process theory is focused on the organization of work in capitalist economies. It explains that the labor market is motivated to produce commodities that are sold at a profit. Its proponents consider the antagonistic relationships that may occur between employers and employees, as they frequently elaborate on worker autonomy, deskilling due to advances in technologies and managerial control in manufacturing processes
Multiple agency theory	The multiple agency theory is an extension of the principal–agent relationship. It commends that one person or entity can act on behalf of multiple other persons or entities. This issue may lead to multiple principal problems as a person or entity (that may be considered as an “agent”) is able to make decisions and/or to take actions on behalf of multiple other entities (or principals), may pursue their self-interests, resulting in asymmetric information advantages, resulting in inefficiencies and tensions in principal–agent relationships. The multiple agency theory is particularly conspicuous in public organizations, public–private partnerships and/or in firms with multiple shareholders
Norm of reciprocity theory	The norm of reciprocity theory clarifies that people engage in reciprocal behaviors and in in-kind exchanges with one another. They tend to respond by compensating caring individuals for their kind behaviors. Alternatively, they may decide to retaliate against mean persons with hostile actions. The theory suggests that many people may usually consider the helpfulness and the thoughtfulness of others by returning a favor. Yet, it also implies that they may resort to negative reactions against unfavorable treatments
Practice theory	The practice theory indicates that society and culture are the result of universal structures concerned with exploring human activities, subjectivities, intersubjectivities, embodiments, languages and power in different societies. Its proponents argue that the individual agent is an active participant in the development of their social world
Rights theory	The rights theory refers to the individuals’ entitlements to be (or not to be) in certain states of affairs, and/or to choose to perform (or not to perform) certain activities or actions. Human rights can clearly indicate which institutions are just and clarify what actions are permissible in them. They shape morality as well as mold regulatory instruments including hard and soft legislation to protect the individuals’ general interests (e.g. rights to life, liberty, happiness, welfare, freedom of speech, etc.). Many jurisdictions may accept to ratify a set of rights to enhance their authority or to increase the degree of freedom of their subjects
Service-dominant logic theory	The service-dominant logic theory in behavioral economics literature considers all relationships within an economy as service-to-service interactions across channels and touchpoints. This theory is intended to explain value creation through resource integration and exchange in the market, among actors, including producers/service providers, consumers and institutions. The rationale behind this theory is that individuals apply their competences to service others and to reciprocally benefit from each other’s collaborative support
Signaling theory	The signaling theory is focused on the communications between two or more parties (individuals or groups). It posits that one of the parties conveys information (i.e. a signal) to the others (i.e. the receivers of the message). The latter must choose how to interpret the signals that are conveyed to them
Social cognition theory	The social cognition theory is supposed to explain the effects of individual experiences as well as the influences of others, and of other environmental factors on a person’s health behaviors. It presumes that certain aspects of an individuals’ acquisition of cognitive knowledge can be gained by observing other persons’ behaviors in their social interactions, by monitoring their experiences, and by following media influences. Hence, the observers may choose to replicate the behaviors of others, if it is convenient for them
Social exchange theory	The social exchange theory presumes that individuals or organizations engage in relationships that maximize benefits and minimize costs. Each party would be willing to forge mutually beneficial relationships. This theory suggests that such relationships would usually be based on frequent exchanges of resources or goods, that are supposed to add value to each side. However, if the costs of the relationship are higher than the rewards, then the relationship may be terminated or abandoned
Social identity theory	The social identity theory describes the interplay between personal and social identities. It aims to explain and predict the circumstances under which individuals consider themselves as societal members. This theory is based on the view that the individuals’ personal identities are formed through different processes depending on their lifestyles in terms of values, attitudes, interests and activities they undertake. It also seeks to clarify how the persons’ self-concepts as well as their social identities could influence in-group and outgroup behaviors. It posits that groups can modify their members’ self-identities (or part of their self-concepts), if the latter are emotionally attached to the former
Social learning theory	The social learning theory maintains that learning is a cognitive process and that it takes place in a social context. The persons’ social behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating the behaviors of other individuals. This theory is based on the idea that everyone learns through social interactions and exchange processes. Some of its proponents suggest that attention, retention, reproduction and motivation stages are crucial for the individuals’ personal development and growth
Social norm theory	The social norm theory is based on set of beliefs and perceptions that other individuals hold different attitudes, and that they would pursue distinct activities. In reality all human beings would probably behave in a similar manner. Some commentators describe this phenomenon as pluralistic ignorance, particularly when individuals strive to adjust their behaviors and to adhere to the pseudo-norms of the presumed majority
Stakeholder theory	The stakeholder theory refers to the organizations’ relationships with their interested groups including shareholders, creditors, employees, suppliers, local communities and regulatory authorities, among others. This social concept builds on foundations of the resource-based view of the firm, market-based view as well as on other relevant normative theories related to business ethics literature. According to this theory, the parties that are affected by the organization or by its modus operandi are considered as stakeholders. The stakeholder theory suggests that organizations including businesses ought to consider their different stakeholders’ interests if they want to succeed in the long term. It posits that it is in their interest to forge strong relationships with different groups that can be affected by the organization’s decisions, in one way or another
Theory of communicative/deliberative democracy	The theory of communicative/deliberative democracy raises awareness on the importance of engaging in quality deliberations prior to making legitimate decisions. It emphasizes that decision makers ought to be limited to a smaller, yet more representative sample of the population who should be allocated adequate time and sufficient resources to lead public organizations in a consultative, democratic context. It posits that decision makers who are elected in a democratic manner, are expected to manage by consensus and to uphold the majority rule, whilst identifying the aspirations and interests of their citizens at all times
Theory of planned behavior	The theory of planned behavior is based on the foundations of the theory of reasoned action. It clarifies that three factors, including the individuals’ attitudes toward behaviors, their subjective norms (or social influences), as well as their perceived behavioral control could influence their decisions and intentional behaviors
Theory of positivity/theory of positive emotions	The theory of positivity/theory of positive emotions refers to the positive influences including optimistic emotions, character strengths and constructive institutions, among other issues, that can have a good effect on a person's happiness and wellbeing. It presumes that positive emotions (such as contentment, joy, interest and anticipation, among others) can influence the individuals’ resources in terms of their thoughts, motivations and mindsets. It suggests that they can foster a higher resilience to pursue intentional behaviors
Utilitarianism theory	The utilitarianism theory suggests that by focusing on the consequences, one could be in a position to distinguish the right from the wrong. It presumes that the best ethical choice is to identify decisions or actions that lead to the greatest good (e.g. happiness or pleasurable outcomes). In socio-economic and/or political contexts, a utilitarian philosophy would seek to improve the quality of society
Virtues theory	The virtues theory maintains that individuals possess character traits, emotions, feelings and dispositions that drive them to strive in their endeavors to continuously improve and to excel in their duties and responsibilities. Several commentators noted that affective and intellectual dispositions enable human beings to have a positive mindset to make the right decisions and to engage in the right behaviors

Appendix A (Business Ethics Theories and Definitions) can be accessed here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4818372.

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