A Market-Oriented Approach to Responsibly Managing Information Privacy Concerns in Direct Marketing (original) (raw)
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While international studies show ample evidence of information privacy concerns, there is a lack of knowledge on South African consumers' opinion on information privacy and their shopping behaviour, especially within a direct marketing context. The objectives of the study included the dependency between age and level of education and knowledge about information protection practices; the privacy concerns of direct and non-direct shoppers; and the direct shopping behaviour of victims versus non-victims. A probability (systematic) sampling design was used to draw a representative sample of households with listed telephone numbers in the different provincial Telkom telephone directories. The sample units were randomly selected, after which 800 telephone interviews were conducted with adults from these households. Findings include that: the level of awareness of name removal procedures is not dependent on age or educational level; direct shoppers and nondirect shoppers differ in terms of their concern for solicitation practices and victims and non-victims differ in terms of their Internet shopping behaviour. The results from the study suggest that the ability to gather and maintain personal information does not necessarily imply that direct marketers are successful in establishing meaningful relationships with consumers. Direct marketing organisations need to be cautious of how they use consumers' collected information and attend to several privacy issues if they want to facilitate relational exchanges between themselves and consumers.
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Increasingly, violations of consumers' personal information are altering the way consumers feel about divulging their personal information to organisations. It is proposed that by identifying which consumers react in which ways to different uses of their personal information, distinct market segments could be constructed. Such segments could offer businesses an opportunity to act responsibly by discriminating their information use in dependence of the segment needs, creating opportunities for competitive advantage and market leadership. This paper provides a brief overview on information privacy, marketing relationships and market leadership; and empirically explores general and personal privacy concerns and behaviour segments in terms of privacy issues using a data set from South Africa. The results indicate that consumers can be grouped into eight different privacy-sensitive segments which offer good opportunities for differentiated communication strategies.
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Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 2006
The increasing use of consumer databases by companies has led to increased levels of concern among consumers that their personal information may not be in safe hands once divulged to companies. A few studies have shown that consumer concern about information privacy may impact on consumer behaviour in ways directly opposed to the aims of the very marketing campaigns developed to increase sales. Should this indeed be the case, it would be in companies' best interest to make protection of consumer privacy a priority. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether there is potential for such a market-driven mechanism of consumer privacy protection. An empirical survey within the Australian context was conducted to investigate the general level of concern among Australians about information privacy. Furthermore, associations between privacy concern levels and behaviour, as well as prior experiences with information privacy violations are examined. Results indicate that: general privacy concern levels are high; associations exist between privacy concerns and protective behaviour; people tend to protect themselves in active ways, such as requesting the removal of information, rather than in passive ways, such as changing the distribution channel to reduce risk of privacy violation exposure; reactions to violations are typically very emotional and include behavioural intentions to take the matter to court.
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Abstract Privacy has become over the last decade one of the foremost social concerns, since the arrival of cheap and ubiquitous surveillance of both online and offline behavior. The Internet has facilitated access to intimate user knowledge for both official and private agents and most of modern marketing strategies are based on a wealth of personal user data used to target its specific needs and expectations, a process that has its obvious pros and cons, which have been heavily debated intensively in both academic and social venues.
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 2000
Privacy is a high-profile public policy issue that affects consumers and marketers. The emergence of online marketing brings new privacy concerns that have resulted in Federal Trade Commission scrutiny and review. At the same time, industry groups and associations have been active in self-regulation efforts. To highlight areas in which marketing researchers can add value to the public policy discussion on privacy, the author provides a research framework that highlights four aspects of information exchange between marketers and consumers. The author argues that improving exchange mechanisms will provide consumers with more control and the ability to make more informed trade-offs of personal information for benefits. Within this framework, the author provides an overview of the articles in this special issue and suggests avenues for further research.
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With the rise of the marketing concept and the institutionalization of various market orientation approaches, marketers have increasingly focused on understanding the consumer. For businesses, this has led to the collection of vast amounts of consumer information. Although most consumers welcome the increased convenience and personalization that these approaches provide, many are concerned about how these practices affect their privacy. The purpose of this article is to provide an understanding of the general concept of privacy, to review and summarize the literature on consumer privacy, and to suggest future research directions that will both synthesize and expand our understanding of consumer privacy.
Socioeconomic and Legal Implications of Electronic Intrusion, 2009
A marketeer’s point of view is presented in this chapter. Although legal restrictions safeguard processes and restrict annoying intrusive techniques, protecting customers, it can be argued that responsible privacy practices in the marketing profession will add value for consumers. As businesses compete with greater intensity to provide the customer with control over areas such as product offerings, services provided, and account management, privacy standards, being an important part of the customer-company relationship, formulate the grounds upon which businesses compete to provide greater customer control.
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This research aims to investigate the customer concern of privacy over the internet pertaining to e-commerce companies in the era of transformative marketing. The paper discusses different drivers and challenges of customer's data protection. The article also explores the two prominent prospects on internet privacy; the "consumer protection view" and "free-market view". To carry out the current study, a thorough literature review is done. Recent articles published in high-quality journals relevant to the topic were collected and analyzed for carrying out current study. Based on the review of literature, it can be stated the vast majority of consumers are unaware of how their personal data is used. Consumers are either too careless in managing their data or too cautious, which may lead to problems for all stakeholders. The researchers advocate the consumer protection view. The current article highlights alarming insight that consumers are unaware and unconcerned how their private data is used for commercial gain without taking their permission. The two views on consumer privacy are shared, and future evolution in these views is discussed. The article has also highlighted that the government has to play an active role since the issue pertains to the entire world.
A Dichotomy of Privacy: Personal and Professional Attitudes of Marketers
Business and Society Review, 1999
A s Americans have been profiled in more and more databases over which they have no control, they have registered increasing concern about their privacy. In 1978, 64% of respondents to a Harris poll were concerned about personal privacy. By 1995, that number had climbed to 82%. 1 And a 1997 survey of 9,300 Internet users found that more than 70% were concerned about privacy. 2 Americans agree with marketing consultant James R. Rosenfield, who has said, "There's too much information under too little control for it not to leak badly at some point, even if marketers have the best of intentions. And lots of marketers, unfortunately, don't." 3 The desire for powerful databases has led marketers to skirt the boundaries of privacy invasion in fields as diverse as medicine, banking, and retail sales. People who call a pharmaceutical manufacturer's 800-number for information about drugs that treat depression or impotence may unwittingly volunteer the raw material for a patient database, which will then be used for targetmarketing campaigns. 4 Couples who detail their financial history on an application for a home mortgage may be surprised to learn that the information they provide will be freely shared with other lending institutions with which they have no prior relationship. 5 And customers who shop with debit and credit cards enable retailers to profile their purchasing patterns for databases that they can exchange with other businesses. 6