A Literature Review and Prospects of Consumer Privacy Concerns

Xie Yi; Gao Chongyan; Tong Zelin

doi:doi:10.16538/j.cnki.fem.20200312.302

Summary

In recent years, with the wide application of Internet and big data technology in business, the collection, preservation and use of consumer data has become a regular behavior in enterprise marketing activities. At the same time, consumers are becoming more concerned about the behavior of companies in collecting and using their personal information, raising privacy concerns. Such privacy concerns have become a global issue in the internet age. And the related behavior of enterprises dealing with customer privacy will have a substantial impact on consumer behavior more and more.

At present, the research of this topic has obtained rich results in the world, and the existing research has basically clarified the connotation and main dimensions of privacy concerns on the basis of synthesizing various views of various disciplines, and constructed a more reliable measurement method. Studies have identified the cognitive and behavioral implications of privacy concerns for consumers. However, the main focus is on the impact on information sharing, service adoption and use behavior, and there are still limitations in understanding the broader impact of privacy concerns on consumer psychology and behavior and the psychological mechanisms of these effects, which require a more in-depth and extensive examination. In recent years, domestic scholars have been more and more concerned about the privacy of consumers in the Chinese context, and have achieved some results in the measurement of privacy concerns, the key factors and the influence in various scenarios. However, there are still many research limitations and a large number of research gaps, and the summary and combing of the related results are insufficient. Moreover, domestic related research results are relatively few. For example, the number of studies focusing on consumer privacy concerns in the Chinese context is still relatively small, failing to form mature conclusions, especially the lack of combing and answering some basic questions. Moreover, the past research is mainly based on the conceptual framework of foreign scholars, and the specific cultural, legal, social and technical situation of our country is not considered enough. Furthermore, research on how to respond effectively to raising consumer privacy concerns through marketing/management is limited.

From the perspective of consumers, this paper reviews and combs the literature in many related fields at home and abroad. On the basis of defining the concept of consumer privacy concerns and constitutive dimension, this paper summarizes the influence of consumer privacy concerns such as demographic characteristics, psychological characteristics, relevant experiences and beliefs, marketing/management strategies and behavior of enterprises, and the influence of consumer-enterprise interaction on consumer cognition and consumer behavior, summarizes the influence effect of privacy concerns from three aspects respectively, and analyzes the direct influence and adjustment effect of privacy concerns on consumer behavior and marketing performance, as well as the main theoretical perspectives to explain these impacts. Finally, on the basis of reviewing the general situation of consumer privacy concerns and discussing their implications for marketing practice, this paper points out five potential research directions in the future, including: basic research on deepening the leading role of consumer privacy concerns; enriching consumer-based applied research in the context of privacy disclosure or data abuse; improving the discussion of “privacy paradox” related issues; strengthening the deep integration of consumer privacy concerns with important topics in marketing; and enriching cross-cultural and cross-regional research on consumer privacy concerns.