Ethics in the bank internet encounter: an explorative study
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14779961211210649 |
| Published date | 24 February 2012 |
| Pages | 36-51 |
| Date | 24 February 2012 |
| Author | Jacob Dahl Rendtorff,Jan Mattsson |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management |
Ethics in the bank internet
encounter: an explorative study
Jacob Dahl Rendtorff
Department of Communication, Business and Information Technologies,
Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark, and
Jan Mattsson
Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss some ethical issues in the internet encounter
between customer and bank. Empirical data related to the difficulties that customers have when they
deal with the bank through internet technology and electronic banking. The authors discuss the
difficulties that customers expressed from an ethical standpoint.
Design/methodology/approach – The key problem of the paper is “how does research handle the
user’s lack of competence in a web-based commercial environment?” The authors illustrate this ethical
dilemma with data from a Danish Bank collected in 2002. The data have been structured by an
advanced text analytic method, Pertex (by generation of intentionality of verbal actors from text).
Findings – The authors can conclude that the experience of lack of competency in internet banking
implies a severe damage on the experience of the ethics of the good life and of the respect for the basic
ethical principles of customer autonomy, dignity, integrity and vulnerability. However, increased
experience of competency may imply experience of increased feeling of ethical superiority and of the
good life among customers.
Research limitations/implications – The important implication for managerial research of this
study would be for banks to focus on customer competency with an ethical concern instead of only
being concerned with technical solutions for effective internet operations.
Practical implications – Since more and more businesses are digitally based, the authors can
foresee a potential generic problem of lack of competence for certain age groups and also of people
from different social groups.
Originality/value – The paper provides an analysis of the ethics of on-line banking on the basis of
Pertex methodology and with the use of basic ethical principles of autonomy, dignity, integrity and
vulnerability.
Keywords Denmark, Banks,Ethics, Home banking, Internet technology, Customers,Vulnerability,
The good life
Paper type Research paper
Introduction: exploring a digital divide with ethical implications
In this article, we discuss some ethical issues in the internet encounter between customer
and bank. Explorative empirical data related to the difficulties that customers have
when they deal with the bank through internet technology and electronic banking. We
discuss the difficulties that customers expressed from an ethical standpoint. We show
how their ethical reactions of feelings of distance or closeness are central to their
experience of the bank internet encounter. We describe ethical theory relevant to the
customer relation in the bank context and we use the critical incident technique
(Flanagan, 1954) to capture examples of bank internet encounters from the perspective
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1477-996X.htm
JICES
10,1
36
Received 3 April 2011
Revised 14 June 2011,
12 October 2011
Accepted 8 December 2011
Journal of Information,
Communication and Ethics in Society
Vol. 10 No. 1, 2012
pp. 36-51
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/14779961211210649
of customers. We use ethical theory to analyse the dilemmas of the bank internet
encounter that emerge out of the empirical findings. The focus of analysis is the
emergence of meaning and intentionality structures from customers and the concept of
customer competence that is implied in the analysis of the ethical dilemmas of the bank
encounter.
The key problem of the paper is “how can we illustrate the user’s (in) competence in
a web-based commercial environment from an ethical standpoint?” We illustrate this
ethical dilemma with data from a Danish retail bank. The data have been structured by
an advanced text analytic method, Pertex (by generation of intentionality of verbal
actors from text). This empirical evidence can be illustrated as an exemplar of ho w
feelings and lack of competence need to be addressed by research. The data illustrate
the problems and difficulties that customers encounter when being in contact with the
internet bank.
We structure this explorative paper as follows: first we elaborate on the concept of
competence as understood by the critical incident technique (CIT) approach. Second we
briefly review findings on internet technology adoption with relevance to our research:
retail banking. Third, we introduce some ethical theory to be used in the subsequent
analysis. Fourth we expand on our method of data collection and text analysis. Fifth
we present the explorative results and sixth their ethical implications. We round off
with a short concluding section outlining the limitations of the study.
Competence as a must-know concept
The basic premise of this paper is that Flanagan (1954, pp. 327-58) already has defined
the competence construct sufficiently for us with his CIT. What we need to do is to
make explicit our different research settings to be able to collect data of behavioural
outcomes. Here are the reasons.
First, let us recapitulate what an incident is defined to be, namely “[...] any
observable human activity that is sufficiently complete in itself to permit inferences
and predictions to be made about the person performing the act” (Flanagan, 1954,
p. 327). To be a critical incident it needs to:
[...] occur in a situation where the purpose or the intent of the act seems fairly clear to the
observer and where its consequences are sufficiently definite to leave little doubt concerning
its effect (Flanagan, 1954, p. 327).
and “[...] if it makes a ‘significant’ contribution, either positively or negatively, to the
general aim of the activity” (Flanagan, 1954, p. 338). What we have is: an act with a
purpose and its effect of that act in a situation. What the CIT wants to do is: “elicit
effective and ineffective behaviours” (Flanagan, 1954, p. 332).
Consequently, competence can be defined as those behaviours (in a critical incident)
that are effective. Incompetence is the reverse. What is needed for the analysis is data
that clearly single out actors, actions and the aims of those actions in order to arrive at
an interpretation of the degree of effectiveness for each action. This is in line with
Flanagan (1954, p. 335). “[...] all observations are evaluated by the observer in terms of
an agreed upon statement of the purpose of the activity”.
In this study, we therefore define competence as: the ability to handle the relationship
with the self-service provider. In the internet bank setting, this definition can be
construed as both the handling of the web site when performing the self-service and/or
Ethics in the
bank internet
encounter
37
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