Abstract
The relationship marketing literature has been emphasising trust for more than 30 years (Dwyer and Lagace, 1986; Dwyer et al., 1987). Companies also tend to consider trust building – and not just customer satisfaction – as a top priority. However, when making decisions, marketers may feel some role ambiguity and may be subjected to the paradoxical requirements of their CEO and shareholders, such as having to comply with a high level of performance in the short term (sales, margins and profits), whilst building trust and relationships in the long term (loyalty, positive word-of-mouth, etc.). In e-commerce, for instance, CEOs often speak in public about customer relationships and trust building, but in private they mostly focus on customer acquisition and short-term performance indicators, such as conversion rates, click-through rates and return on investment (ROI) for each campaign.1 Managers also face ethical dilemmas, such as choosing between their own interests (incentives, objective achievement, elevation on the corporate ladder, etc.), their organisation’s interests (profits, market share, etc.) and their customers’ interests (cheaper products, better services, etc.). While marketing has emphasised customer satisfaction, trust, commitment and engagement (word-of-mouth, etc.) as top priorities, customer relationship management (CRM) may also lead to manipulative and deceptive tactics contrary to these priorities. In this technology-driven era, information asymmetry is increasing, and ethics – which involves perceptions regarding right or wrong – is an even more critical issue. Customers are increasingly transparent to companies and are required to disclose personal information to their suppliers. For example, spyware, surveys and ‘big data’ solutions allow companies collecting, analysing and using personal data (behaviours, satisfaction, preferences, opinions) to adapt communication and offers effectively, such as real-time-bidding offers and discounts (Searls, 2012). The temptation for firms to exploit this asymmetry and to behave opportunistically is, therefore, very high. Instead of enhancing full transparency over the Internet, the use of CRM capabilities creates new forms of information asymmetry (big data, connected objects), new forms of opportunism, new forms of vulnerability (privacy concerns), new potential causes of distrust, new unfair situations, and thus new customer misbehaviours (disloyalty, vengeance, vandalism, aggressiveness, etc.) (Nguyen, 2011). CRM practices are sometimes contrary to the ethical and legal foundations of relationship marketing (Macneil, 1978) and may cause its premature death (Fournier et al., 1998). In 1993, Gundlach and Murphy urged the need for more equality, for keeping promises, for a morality of duty and aspiration, and for increased equity, trust, responsibility and commitment of partners in relational exchanges. However, what about ethics in CRM decision making today, in our connected world? CRM refers to an extensive use of qualitative and/or quantitative data to market customised offers to customers through various points of contact (call centres, points of sale and sales force, direct marketing, Internet and smartphones, connected objects, etc.). While its initial promise is highly valuable (value creation and satisfaction), its concrete application has led to an industrialisation of several organisational processes (Stevens et al., 2012): Centralisation (decisions, power, data) Automation (sales force, marketing campaigns, call centres, e-CRM) Rationalisation (cost efficiency, economies of scale) Externalisation (crowdsourcing, customer participation, self-service).