Algorithmic Ethics:An Empirical Study On A New Dimension Of Corporate Social Responsibility

As artificial intelligence technology continues to develop,more and more businesses are applying various algorithms and models to support their business activities.These algorithms involve issues such as data privacy,social justice,and ethics,and the responsibility of businesses for their algorithms has attracted scholarly attention.Many scholars have suggested that businesses should uphold a sense of social responsibility when applying algorithms,ensuring that their algorithm use is fair,transparent,secure,and legal.Although the responsibility of businesses in the development and application of algorithms has received attention and recognition,there is currently little research that provides a clear definition and measurement indicators for the algorithmic responsibility that businesses should bear,and few studies explore the impact of fulfilling algorithmic responsibility on business operations.The main purpose of this paper is to propose a reasonable concept of algorithmic ethics responsibility based on a literature review,develop and validate a corresponding evaluation scale,and empirically demonstrate that algorithmic ethics responsibility is a new dimension of corporate social responsibility.In this paper,algorithmic ethics responsibility is defined as the responsibility of internet companies to ensure that their algorithms can conform to basic social moral concepts,norms,and values during the design,development,and application of algorithms,in order to avoid the possible negative consequences.This paper attempts to describe the responsibility that internet companies should bear in the process of developing and using algorithms through the concept of "algorithmic ethics responsibility" and believes that "algorithmic ethics responsibility"should become a new dimension of corporate social responsibility for internet companies.Based on this definition,in order to develop an evaluation scale for algorithmic ethics responsibility and validate it as a new dimension of corporate social responsibility,two studies were conducted.Study 1 followed a rigorous scale development process,using literature review and open-ended interviews to develop an algorithmic ethics responsibility evaluation scale.The reliability and validity of the developed scale were tested through a questionnaire survey.Study 2 used structural equation modeling to examine the impact of algorithmic ethics responsibility on corporate reputation and customer satisfaction.The results showed that,similar to the impact of other dimensions of corporate social responsibility,algorithmic ethical responsibility can also affect customer satisfaction through corporate reputation.Algorithmic ethics responsibility significantly affects emotional reputation and cognitive reputation of the company,and algorithmic ethics responsibility has a positive impact on customer satisfaction through its impact on emotional and cognitive reputation,while emotional reputation and cognitive reputation of the company are positively related.