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This study aims to examine the potential of Information Ethics (IE) to serve as a coherent ethical foundation for the library and information science profession (LIS profession).

This study consists of two parts: the first part present IE’s central theses and the main critiques it has received; the second part offers the authors' own evaluation of the theory from the LIS perspective in two steps: (1) assessing its internal consistency by testing its major theses against each other; (2) assessing its utility for resolving frequently debated LIS ethical dilemmas by comparing its solutions with solutions from other ethical theories.

This study finds that IE, consisting of an informational ontology, a fundamental ethical assertion and a series of moral laws, forms a coherent ethical framework and holds promising potential to serve as a theoretical foundation for LIS ethical issues; its inclusion of nonhuman objects as moral patients and its levels of abstraction mechanism proved to be particularly relevant for the LIS profession. This study also shows that, to become more solid an ethical theory, IE needs to resolve some of its internal contradictions and ambiguities, particularly its conceptual conflations between internal correctness, rightness and goodness; between destruction, entropy and evil; and the discrepancy between its deontological ethical assertion and its utilitarian moral laws.

This study alerts LIS professionals to the possibility of having a coherent ethical foundation and the potential of IE in this regard.

This study provides a systemic explication, evaluation and field test of IE from the LIS perspective.

This paper aims to illuminate a mechanism of positive word of mouth (PWOM) toward mobile banking (m-banking) by extending the fairness theory (FAT) with satisfaction (SAT) and value-in-use (VIU).

A research model is examined by obtaining data from a web-based survey of 398 respondents who have used m-banking in Vietnam. AMOS 21.0 software is applied to analyze the hypothetical model with covariance-based structural equation modeling.

The results reveal that price fairness (PRI) is of primary importance of fairness perception (FAI) in m-banking, followed by informative fairness, procedural fairness, interactional fairness and distributive fairness. Furthermore, SAT and VIU play a vital role in developing PWOM. In addition, FAI exerts a positive influence on SAT and VIU.

This study would help practitioners have the deep insights into affective and behavioral responses among customers and develop effective marketing trajectories to spur SAT, VIU and PWOM toward m-banking. The results hint that marketers may be tempted to simultaneously focus on the important dimensions of FAIs as they are indispensable to derive SAT and VIU from a customer perspective. This research assists governments and banks to adopt training programs and policies that will incite customer behaviors toward m-banking.

The value of the work lies in the combination between FAT with SAT to enlighten FAI and PWOM toward m-banking in a developing country. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is among the first to consider VIU that motivates PWOM. Moreover, this study links PRI to FAI to understand PWOM among Vietnamese customers.