Ethics Hold the Key to Network Contradictions

Today's Internet-based world has certainly made it easier for companies to acquire, store and transmit detailed information like never before. But with these gains in speed and efficiency have come more complex, and sometimes contradictory, expectations about how companies should collect, retain and disclose that information. Consumers, employees and other stakeholders are accessing and exchanging all manner of information related to individual habits, personal preferences and privately held beliefs, which used to be kept under lock and key, but are now largely out of our hands. Given how radically virtual networks have transformed the nature of our social interactions - including those that connect firms with their stakeholders - experts have started to stress the need for an ethical framework that is uniquely conceived to tackle the complexity of the phenomena at play under this new scenario. This article addresses "network ethics" - an integrated vision of ethical problems as associated with the management of Internet-driven networks - and highlights the need to carefully analyze not only financial and relational drivers, but also ethical ones. Sound, conscious, careful ethical judgment becomes a fundamental tool for managers to understand the appropriateness of stakeholders' ethical claims, and then build fruitful relationships with them based on trust.