Consumer vulnerability: its impact on ethical perceptions and brand love towards online retail from a stimulus-organism-behaviour-consequence perspective

Ethics in e-commerce becomes essential, especially in crisis situations such as COVID-19. However, few e-commerce platforms adopt unethical practices to benefit in these vulnerable times. An online survey is conducted for respondents who have bought medical products online during COVID-19. The data is analysed using PLS-SEM for 400 respondents. This study utilises the stimulus-organism-behaviour-consequence (SOBC) perspective by presenting resource scarcity and distinguishing ability as the stimulus, different facets of consumers' perceived ethics of online retail (CPEOR) as the organism, trust, and brand love as behavioural and consequential outcomes, respectively. The results of the study support the SOBC framework. Findings indicate that resource scarcity and distinguishing ability influence facets of CPEOR, which impacts trust towards online retail, finally impacting brand love for online retail and products. The study contributes to the literature by offering new perspectives on managing ethical perceptions of online retailers.