Brand privacy policy and brand trust reference in online business communication

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to the existing literature by examining strategic communications of online privacy policies of e-commerce brands. Specifically, the key topics and the sentiments of privacy assurances, the aspects of brand trust referred, and the privacy policy-brand trust reference relationship were explored. A total of 62 privacy policy statements on the websites of the 100 leading companies in the e-commerce industry worldwide were analyzed using quantitative content, sentiment, and Spearman's correlation analyses. Results indicate that most of the leading companies in the global e-commerce sector share information about various privacy practices positively. Although the most valuable e-commerce international brands tend to have a higher level of the online brand privacy policy, they are less likely to refer to brand trust. However, online brand privacy policy and online brand trust reference levels are not found to be significantly associated. Copyright © 2023, IGI Global.