Title: Establishing business integrity and value congruence – a comparative investigation of ethical information practices among New Zealand banks

Authors: A.S.C. Hooper

Addresses: School of Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington, P.O. Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract: Banks would benefit from demonstrating the highest levels of business integrity in ethical information handling. A website is a form of communication that symbolically represents its parent organisation. Content analysis of banking websites is proposed as a valid way of assessing institutional values. The 12 principles of the New Zealand Privacy Act (1993) articulate national values for information handling and privacy protection and, therefore, provide a coding template for a content analysis of banking websites. New Zealand banking websites were found to demonstrate a basic level of understanding and commitment to the privacy of customer information. While all seven banks had a privacy statement, none demonstrated a pervasive commitment to meet all the requirements of the New Zealand Privacy Act. The concept of using legislated privacy principles as a basis for assessing national information handling values and business integrity could assist banks in providing the integrity assurances that customers seek, thereby enhancing their competitive advantage.

Keywords: business integrity; value congruence; banks; banking; New Zealand; Privacy Act 1993; corporate ethics; ethical practices; information handling; websites; internet; world wide web; communication; parent organisations; content analysis; institutional values; privacy protection; coding templates; customer information; privacy statements; legislation; integrity assurances; competitive advantage; data handling; liability; scientific enquiry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSE.2010.031821

International Journal of Liability and Scientific Enquiry, 2010 Vol.3 No.1/2, pp.24 - 38

Published online: 25 Feb 2010 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article