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Understanding Consumer Privacy: A Review and Future Directions

Academy of Marketing Science Review, 2008 by D, Clinton Jr, Saini, Amit

Clinton D. Lanier, Jr. is a Ph.D. Candidate and Amit Saini is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Marketing, CBA 310, P.O. Box 880492, Lincoln, NE 68588-0492. Mr. Lanier can be reached by phone (402) 472-2316, fax (402) 472-9777, or email: cdlanier@unlserve.unl.edu. Dr. Saini can be reached by phone (402) 472-2344, fax (402) 472-9777, or email: asaini@unlnotes.unl.edu.

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The evolution of marketing from a production orientation to a market orientation (Kieth 1960; Kotler and Zaltman 1971), as exemplified by the marketing concept (Barksdale and Darden 1971; Houston 1986; McKitterick 1957), has led to a dramatic increase in the need to understand the consumer. While application of this market orientation approach, especially in the forms of direct and relationship marketing, arguably brings multiple benefits to both consumers and firms (Kohli and Jaworski 1990; Narver and Slater 1990), it also requires a large amount of consumer information in order to deliver value (Nowak and Phelps 1997). The widespread adoption of information technology (IT) has allowed firms to meet this need for consumer information by vastly increasing the amount and types of information they collect (McCrohan 1989; Thomas and Maurer 1997). For firms, advances in IT have considerably enhanced the institutionalization and utilization of the market orientation approach by providing the technological infrastructure to capture, analyze, and maintain large quantities of consumer information (Winer 2001). For consumers, though, the collection and analysis of their personal information has led to an increase in privacy concerns (Foxman and Kilcoyne 1993; Phelps, Nowak, and Ferrell 2000).

While most consumers welcome the increased convenience and personalization that these various marketing orientation approaches provide, many are concerned about the collection, use, and protection of their personal information (Phelps et al. 2000; Rust, Kannan, and Peng 2002). Given the sharp increases in unsolicited promotions, incidences of identity theft, and the negligent loss of consumer information by firms, these fears are not altogether unwarranted (Levy and Stone 2005). For many consumers, major privacy concerns fall into three main categories: (1) notification, (2) control, and (3) security. First, many consumers want to be informed about the collection and use of their personal information by firms (Dommeyer and Gross 2003; Milne and Culnan 2004; Nowak and Phelps 1995), Second, consumers want to feel that they have some control over the collection of their personal information and the sharing of this information among firms (Goodwin 1991; Milne and Boza 1999; Phelps et al. 2000). Third, most consumers want some assurance that the personal information they provide to firms, especially online, and the storage of this information is secure (Hoy and Phelps 2003; Jones 1991; Miyazaki and Fernandez 2000). Although multiple legal, commercial, and technological solutions have been proposed to address these concerns (Foxman and Kilcoyne 1993; Goodwin 1991; Phelps et al. 2000), the protection of consumer privacy remains a constant concern for consumers and a formidable challenge for businesses.

In an attempt to understand these issues, consumer privacy research has sought to define the concept of consumer privacy, outline the privacy expectations and strategies of both consumers and businesses, and examine the degree to which firm's are providing adequate consumer privacy protection. While this body of research has provided us with valuable information concerning these issues, there currently does not exist a review that synthesizes and analyzes the current state of consumer privacy research. Given the complexity of the topic and the diversity of issues that have been explored, we feel that a comprehensive review is necessary to refine our understanding of this important topic and to take consumer privacy to a more advanced theoretical level. As a result, the purpose of this article is to examine the general concept of privacy in order to situate and define the domain of consumer privacy, review the literature on consumer privacy in order to determine what we know, and provide directions for future research in order to address gaps in the literature. We begin by examining the general nature of privacy, privacy rights, and privacy regulation. Next, we review the various conceptualizations of consumer privacy. Third, we examine privacy issues from the perspectives of both consumers and firms. Fourth, we propose directions for future research. Because the conceptualization of privacy in general and consumer privacy in particular differs among cultures and nations, this review will focus primarily on issues of privacy in the United States.

PRIVACY

The debate on the nature and scope of privacy is vast and includes research in such diverse disciplines as biology, anthropology, and legal philosophy. While it is not our goal to present research on privacy from all the various disciplines in a single article, we feel that a certain amount of background information on privacy is necessary in order to examine and situate of the notion of consumer privacy. This section provides an overview of the general concept of privacy and its relevance to U.S. law and business.

Advertising Industry

Understanding Consumer Privacy: A Review and Future Directions

Academy of Marketing Science Review, 2008 by D, Clinton Jr, Saini, Amit

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