Ethical Behaviour and Emerging Marketing Technologies: An Empirical Study among College Students in Pollachi

Abstract

The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence, social media marketing, personalized advertising, influencer marketing, chat bots, recommendation systems, and data-driven marketing has transformed the contemporary marketing environment. While these technologies provide significant benefits to consumers and marketers, they also create ethical concerns relating to privacy, transparency, informed consent, data security, manipulation, fairness, and responsible use of consumer information. College students represent an important consumer segment because of their extensive use of digital platforms and their increasing exposure to technology-enabled marketing practices. The present study examines the perceptions of college students regarding ethical behavior in emerging marketing technologies in Pollachi. The study adopts a descriptive and empirical research design and collects primary data from 575 college students through a structured questionnaire. The study examines students’ awareness of emerging marketing technologies, perceptions of ethical marketing practices, privacy concerns, transparency, trust, and responsible use of consumer data. Factor analysis, are proposed for analyzing the data. The model findings indicate that transparency, privacy protection, responsible data usage, and fairness significantly influence students’ trust in emerging marketing technologies. The study highlights the importance of ethical standards, consumer awareness, institutional education, and responsible technology adoption. The findings provide useful implications for marketers, educational institutions, technology providers, and policymakers seeking to develop trustworthy and consumer-oriented digital marketing practices