Consumer privacy decision-making in digital era: an integrative review and taxonomy

Abstract

Purpose

In the digital age, personalized services and accurate recommendations enhance the customer experience and streamline shopping. However, increasing concerns about personal privacy have led to resistance from consumers, necessitating a balance between providing high-quality online services and safeguarding personal data. The aim of this paper is to offer a comprehensive review of the fragmented literature on consumer privacy decision-making and to identify key issues worth exploring in future research.

Design/methodology/approach

Although previous studies have analyzed the antecedents and outcomes of privacy decisions, they have often been conducted in a fragmented manner. There remains a lack of a holistic understanding of the factors influencing privacy decisions, including their boundaries. Therefore, we build on the Theory of Planned Behavior to combine consumer privacy decision-making with a graphically conceptual framework used in a similar scoping methodology. We attempt to dissect the antecedent, moderator and outcome variables that influence consumer privacy decision-making, ultimately providing a comprehensive framework for understanding these dynamics.

Findings

Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, we analyze the entire process of consumer privacy decision-making in terms of antecedent, moderating and outcome variables. The results indicate that consumer privacy decision-making is not an isolated behavior or a single choice but a complex, multi-level dynamic process. The factors influencing consumer privacy decisions primarily encompass five aspects: individual characteristics, information, organization, platform and interaction management, leading to various outcomes in both behavioral and perceptual dimensions. Furthermore, the process is constrained by multiple moderating variables, such as information sensitivity, platform knowledge and prior experience.

Originality/value

We build on the Theory of Planned Behavior to combine consumer privacy decision-making with a graphically conceptual framework used in a similar scoping methodology. We dissect the antecedent, moderator and outcome variables that influence consumer privacy decision-making, aiming to provide a comprehensive framework for understanding these processes.

Citation

Sun, Z., Pan, G., Yang, R., Zang, G. and Zhou, J. (2024), "Consumer privacy decision-making in digital era: an integrative review and taxonomy", Aslib Journal of Information Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-12-2023-0526