Scale Development and Validation of Corporate Digital Responsibility—A Consumer Perspective

Yang, Ping, Ji, Chunli ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4749-8419, Prentice, Catherine ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7700-3889, Sthapit, Erose ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1650-3900 and Peng, Zhengyin (2025) Scale Development and Validation of Corporate Digital Responsibility—A Consumer Perspective. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 49 (1). e70023. ISSN 1470-6423

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Abstract

Corporate digital responsibility (CDR) is emerging as a prominent issue and has been sporadically discussed in the relevant literature. Due to the limited research on assessing digital responsibility, this study developed a scale that measures CDR from a consumer perspective. A mixed‐methods approach was employed to develop and validate the scale. First, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted to conceptualize consumer‐centric CDR and formulate the underlying constructs and measures. This was followed by a quantitative study to confirm the validity and reliability of the qualitative results. The scale development and validation process resulted in a measure consisting of six dimensions: digital transparency, digital privacy, digital quality, digital remedy, digital accessibility, and digital inclusiveness. This study contributes to corporate social responsibility research by introducing a consumer‐centric CDR scale, which provides practitioners with insights into how to execute responsible practices in the digitalized business arena, reflecting the preferences and expectations of consumers regarding digital responsibility.