Value Congruence and Trust Online: Their Impact on Privacy and Pr ...

from its shelves in order to demonstrate concurrence with the values of its customers (Wall Street Journal, 2003). The AFA, through its subsidiary websites www.onemillionmoms.com and www.onemilliondads.com has launched attacks against Amazon.com, Yahoo.com and Juno.com for allegedly offending the values propagated by the AFA. In contrast, the AFA has also launched a campaign to thank the US Postal Service for aligning itself with AFA values. These cases demonstrate that it is important for an organization to be cognizant of the values of its customers and understand how these customers may potentially react in response to a company’s actions that threaten or violate these values.

Each individual has a set of values that are based on his or her personal background and beliefs. Likewise, each organization projects a set of values which are perceived by its customers. In some cases, the organization’s values will be perceived as neutral, or not providing any meaningful support either for or against the causes the individual is interested in. We call this case a Value Neutral Organization. If the organization’s perceived values and the individual’s values are highly correlated, it is called a Value Positive Organization, meaning that, to the individual, there is a high compatibility between the individual’s and the organization’s values. If the organization’s perceived values and the individual’s values are negatively correlated, we call it a Value Negative Organization. In this case, there is a strong conflict between the values of the individual and those propagated by the organization.

It is important to note that the organization’s values are based on the perception of an individual. Positive value congruence is not an endorsement of that value, but rather an indication that a match exists between the company’s and the individual’s values. It is not a judgment on the merits of those values. Moreover, a company that is value positive to one individual may be value neutral or negative to another individual. It is the effect of the correlation of an organization’s values and an individual’s values that we intend to examine in this study.