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Research-in-Progress

Abstract

Ethics has been an increasingly important topic in business and many issues stem from this broad subject.Especially when companies cross borders to conduct business, the lines for what is ethical begin to blur whencosts and profits are concerned. Thus, many issues emerge when looking at environmental and socialresponsibility, such as environmental friendliness, local manufacturing, and child labor. These ethical issues havebrought about standards of conduct for businesses as consumers tend to react poorly when an ethical line hasbeen crossed. This study attempts to look at how one such issue, child labor, impacts the purchasing behaviorsof consumers for the cell phone industry. Coltan is a raw mineral that is used in many technologies, including thebatteries of cell phones and computers. This mineral is currently being mined using child labor in Africa,specifically the country of Congo. Unfortunately, this issue has not been publicized and cell phone companies arenot currently being held accountable for where the coltan for their cell phones is coming from. Thus, the purposeof this study is to expose this ethical dilemma and measure the potential effect on consumers within the cellphone industry.

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