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Online shoppers feel insecure due to the various unethical practices of e-tailers. It is, therefore, crucial for online retailers to alleviate customer concerns. Extant literature indicates that country-of-origin (COO) cues influence consumer perception. A relatively underexplored phenomenon in an emerging market context, the COO image of the online retailer, i.e. a foreign-origin online retailer (FOOR) or an Indian-origin online retailer (IOOR), needs validation. The current study investigates customer expectations of online retailers' ethical behaviour against the backdrop of online retailer-based signals in emerging markets.

The researchers floated an online questionnaire using a seven-point Likert scale. The authors sought recipient responses in Google Forms shared via e-mails and social media connections. The authors analysed 1,018 useable responses using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) in Smart PLS 3.

The empirical study examined the influence of the consumer perception of ethics of online retailers (CPEOR) and COO on consumer purchase intention. It validated the proposed research model. The research findings inform that the CPEOR and the COO influence purchase intention through the mediation effects of trust and satisfaction. Results indicate that privacy, security, non-deception, fulfilment, customer service, FOOR and IOOR strongly predict consumer trust. In contrast, privacy, non-deception, fulfilment, customer service and FOOR strongly predict consumer satisfaction. However, security and IOOR did not influence consumer satisfaction.

The study results have theoretical and practical implications for academic researchers and online retailing managers. Future studies can validate the model in different geo-demographic scenarios and e-commerce settings.

The study enriches the extant literature on CPEOR in the Indian context. This study is pioneering work examining consumer purchase intention by adding the COO construct to the CPEOR model.

Consumers are worried about sharing their sensitive information during online shopping due to the e-tailer’s unethical practices and hacking-related concerns. Prior research has established the country of origin (COO) as a trust-building cue; however, it requires empirical testing in the online retailing context. The present study aims to examine the e-tailer COO’s effect on consumer privacy, trust and purchase intention.

An online survey floated a seven-point Likert scale questionnaire and invited the receivers to participate in the investigation over e-mails and text messages. A total of 355 usable responses were analyzed using R programming.

This study empirically validated a proposed conceptual model examining the influence of COO on consumer privacy, trust and purchase intention. The findings suggest that COO influences consumer privacy, trust and purchase intention. This study further found that the privacy practices of online retailers positively impact consumer trust. Trust acts as a mediating factor in influencing purchase intention.

This study offers valuable insights for advancing the research agenda and actionable inputs to e-commerce managers for alleviating consumer privacy concerns in emerging economies. Future researchers can test the proposed model in other demographic and e-commerce settings.

This study contributes to the present knowledge on consumer privacy in online retailing in the Indian context. This paper also examines the relationship of COO with consumer privacy, trust and purchase intention, an underexplored research area in emerging markets.

In a global environment where terrorist organisations based in a poor country target a rich nation, this paper aims to study the properties of a dynamically incentive compatible contract designed by the target nation that involves joint counter-terror tasks with costly participation by each country. The counter-terror operations are however subject to ex post moral hazard, so that to incentivise counter-terror, the rich country supplies developmental aid. Development aid also helps avoid unrest arising from counter-terror activities in the target nation. However, aid itself can be diverted to non-developmental projects, generating a novel interlinked moral hazard problem spanning both tasks and rewards.

The authors use a dynamic model where the aid giving countries and aid receiving countries behave strategically. Then they solve for the sub game perfect Nash equilibrium of this game.

The authors characterise the optimal contract, showing that the dynamic structure of counter-terror resembles the shock-and-awe discussed by military strategists. The authors then prove that it is not necessarily the case that a more hawkish (resp. altruistic) donor is less pro-development (resp. softer on terror). In addition, the authors show that it may be easier to contract for higher counter-terror inputs when the recipient is more sympathetic to terrorists. The authors also discuss other problems faced by developing nations where this model can be readily adopted and the results can endorse appealing policy implications.

The authors characterise the optimal contract, showing that the dynamic structure of counter-terror resembles the shock-and-awe discussed by military strategists. It is proved that it is not necessarily the case that a more hawkish (resp. altruistic) donor is less pro-development (resp. softer on terror). In addition, the authors show that it may be easier to contract for higher counter-terror inputs when the recipient is more sympathetic to terrorists. Other problems faced by developing nations are also discussed where this model can be readily adopted, and the results can endorse appealing policy implications. These results have important policy implications, in particular in today’s world.