Buyer–Seller Information Asymmetry: Challenges to Distributive and Corrective Justice

Abstract

Buyer—seller information asymmetry (BSIA) is a growing problem despite electronic modes of free global communications. The authors investigate this BSIA phenomenon from a macromarketing perspective. They first identify the defective structures and outcomes of BSIA and then examine the underlying structures of injustice that BSIA implies from a distributive justice view. Although distributive justice focuses on a universal mission of distributing burdens and benefits among all stakeholders, a complementary system, corrective justice, is needed to rectify specific injustices inherent in individual exchanges. Accordingly, the authors propose a BSIA reduction protocol based on both distributive and corrective justice principles so that the risks and causes of consumer harm inherent in BSIA will be progressively reduced. Finally, the authors discuss managerial implications of this combined justice approach and the BSIA reduction protocol it grounds.