Abstract
Experts bemoan consumers’ overall lack of concern about privacy and counterintuitive or even “paradoxical” behavior that exposes them to potential privacy violations. Vast evidence shows us that though consumers say that they are worried about privacy, they do not take the precautionary measures required to protect their personal information. These consumer-levied critiques become especially salient every time a large data breach or corporate privacy failure, such as the recent Facebook–Cambridge Analytica scandal or Equifax data breach, comes to light. Yet beyond these surface-level criticisms, far less attention has been devoted to the deep psychology of privacy.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Schneier, B. (2015). Fear and Convenience. In M. Rotenberg, J. Horwitz, & J. Scott (Eds.), Privacy in the Modern Age: A Search for Solutions (pp. 200–203). New York: The New Press.
Time-CNN. (1991). 93% of Respondents Believed That the Law Should Require Companies to Obtain Permission from Consumers Before Selling Their Personal Information. EPIC.org. Public Opinion Polls Archive. Available at https://www.epic.org/privacy/survey/#polls. Accessed March 31, 2018.
Money Magazine. (1997). Poll Shows That 88% of the Public Favors a Privacy Bill of Rights. EPIC.org. Public Opinion Polls Archive. Available at https://www.epic.org/privacy/survey/#polls. Accessed March 31, 2018.
BusinessWeek/Harris. (2000, March). A Growing Threat. BusinessWeek Magazine. Available at https://www.epic.org/privacy/survey/#polls. Accessed March 31, 2018.
Turow, J., Hennessy, M., & Draper, N. (2015). The Tradeoff Fallacy: How Marketers Are Misrepresenting American Consumers and Opening Them Up to Exploitation. Report from the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. Available at https://www.asc.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/TradeoffFallacy_0.pdf. Accessed May 14, 2018.
Fox, J. (2014, May 27). 85% of Online Consumer Oppose Internet Ad Tracking, Consumer Reports Finds (Consumer Reports). Available at https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/05/most-consumers-oppose-internet-ad-tracking/index.htm. Accessed April 5, 2018.
Madden, M., & Rainie, L. (2015). Americans’ Attitudes About Privacy, Security and Surveillance. Pew Research Center. www.pewinternet.org.
Rainie, L., & Anderson, J. (2014). The Future of Privacy. Pew Research Center. www.pewresearch.org.
Gallup. (1999). 70% of Respondents Believe the Constitution Guarantees Citizens the Right to Privacy. EPIC.org. Public Opinion Polls Archive. Available at https://www.epic.org/privacy/survey/#polls. Accessed March 31, 2018.
YouGov. (2018, February 10–12). Majority of Americans Feel Their Personal Information Online Is at Risk. Available at https://today.yougov.com/news/2018/03/12/majority-americans-feel-their-personal-information/. Accessed March 26, 2018.
Olmstead, K., & Smith, A. (2017). What the Public Knows About Cybersecurity. Pew Research Center. www.pewinternet.org.
AARP. (1998). Survey of Member Attitudes on Privacy. EPIC.org. Public Opinion Polls Archive. Available at https://www.epic.org/privacy/survey/#polls. Accessed March 31, 2018.
Altman, I. (1975). The Environment and Social Behavior: Privacy, Personal Space, Territory, and Crowding. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.
Pedersen, D. M. (1997, July). Psychological Functions of Privacy. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 17, 147–156.
Schwartz, B. (1968, May). The Social Psychology of Privacy. American Journal of Sociology, 73, 741–752.
Lombardi, D. B., & Ciceri, M. R. (2016). More Than Defense in Daily Experience of Privacy: The Functions of Privacy in Digital and Physical Environments. Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 12(1), 115–136.
Oulasvirta, A., Pihlajamaa, A., Perkio, J., Ray, D., Vahakangas, T., Hasu, T., Vainio, N., & Myllymaki, T. (2012). Long-Term Effects of Ubiquitous Surveillance in the Home. Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing, 41–50. https://doi.org/10.1145/2370216.2370224.
Nissenbaum, H. (2010). Privacy in Context: Technology, Policy, and the Integrity of Social Life. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.
Jeff Smith, H., Dinev, T., & Xu, H. (2011, December). Information Privacy Research: An Interdisciplinary Review. MIS Quarterly, 35, 989–1015.
Solove, D. J. (2008). Understanding Privacy. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
Westin, A. F. (2003, July). Social and Political Dimensions of Privacy. Journal of Social Issues, 59, 431–453.
Dunbar, R. I. M. (2004). Gossip in Evolutionary Perspective. Review of General Psychology, 8(2), 100–110.
Dinev, T., McConnell, A. R., & Jeff Smith, H. (2015). Informing Privacy Research Through Information Systems, Psychology, and Behavioral Economics: Thinking Outside the ‘APCO’ Box. Information Systems Research, 26(4), 639–655.
Martin, K. D., & Murphy, P. E. (2017, March). The Role of Data Privacy in Marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45, 135–155.
Milne, G. R., & Bahl, S. (2010). Are There Differences Between Consumers’ and Marketers’ Privacy Expectations? A Segment- and Technology-Level Analysis. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 29(Spring), 138–149.
Xu, H., Teo, H.-H., Tan, B. C., & Agarwal, R. (2012, December). Effects of Individual Self-Protection, Industry Self-Regulation, and Government Regulation on Privacy Concerns: A Study of Location-Based Services. Information Systems Research, 23, 1342–1363.
Bowie, N. E., & Jamal, K. (2006, July). Privacy Rights on the Internet: Self-Regulation or Government Regulation. Business Ethics Quarterly, 16, 323–342.
Martin, K. (2015). Privacy Notices as Tabula Rasa: An Empirical Investigation into How complying with a Privacy Notice Is Related to Meeting Privacy Expectations Online. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 34(Fall), 210–227.
Vail, M. W., Earp, J. B., & Antón, A. I. (2008, August). An Empirical Study of Consumer Perceptions and Comprehension of Web Site Privacy Policies. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 55, 442–454.
Bansal, G., Zahedi, F. M., & Gefen, D. (2016). Do Context and Personality Matter? Trust and Privacy Concerns in Disclosing Private Information Online. Information & Management, 53, 1–21.
Winter, S. J., Stylainou, A. C., & Giacolone, R. A. (2004, October). Individual Differences in the Acceptability of Unethical Information Technology Practices: The Case of Machiavellianism and Ethical Ideology. Journal of Business Ethics, 54, 273–301.
Baruh, L., Secinti, E., & Cemalcilar, Z. (2017). Online Privacy Concerns and Privacy Management: A Meta-Analytical Review. Journal of Communication, 67, 26–53.
Goldfarb, A., & Tucker, C. (2012, May). Shifts in Privacy Concerns. American Economic Review, 102, 349–353.
Rainie, L., & Duggan, M. (2016). Privacy and Information Sharing. Pew Research Center. www.pewresearch.org.
Anderson, M., & Perrin, A. (2017). Tech Adoption Climbs Among Older Adults. Pew Research Center. www.pewinternet.org.
Phelps, J., Nowak, G., & Ferrell, E. (2000). Privacy Concerns and Consumer Willingness to Provide Personal Information. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 19(Spring), 27–41.
Tucker, C. (2014, October). Social Networks, Personalized Advertising and Privacy Controls. Journal of Marketing Research, 51, 546–562.
White, T. B., Zahay, D. L., Thorbjørnsen, H., & Shavitt, S. (2008). Getting Too Personal: Reactance to Highly Personalized Email Solicitations. Marketing Letters, 19, 39–50.
Tsai, J. Y., Egelman, S., Cranor, L., & Acquisti, A. (2011). The Effect of Online Privacy Information on Purchasing Behavior: An Experimental Study. Information Systems Research, 22(2), 254–268.
Bart, Y., Shankar, V., Sultan, F., & Urban, G. L. (2005, October). Are the Drivers and Role of Online Trust the Same for All Web Sites and Consumers? A Large-Scale Exploratory Empirical Study. Journal of Marketing, 69, 133–152.
Schlosser, A. E., White, T. B., & Lloyd, S. M. (2006, April). Converting Web Site Visitors into Buyers: How Web Site Investment Increases Consumer Trusting Beliefs and Online Purchase Intentions. Journal of Marketing, 70, 133–148.
Miyazaki, A. D. (2008). Online Privacy and the Disclosure of Cookie Use: Effects on Consumer Trust and Anticipated Patronage. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 27(Spring), 19–33.
Wirtz, J., & Lwin, M. O. (2009). Regulatory Focus Theory, Trust, and Privacy Concern. Journal of Service Research, 12(2), 190–207.
Aguirre, E., Mahr, D., Grewal, D., de Ruyter, K., & Wetzels, M. (2015). Unraveling the Personalization Paradox: The Effect of Information Collection and Trust-Building Strategies on Online Advertisement Effectiveness. Journal of Retailing, 91(1), 34–49.
Mikolajczak, M., Pinon, N., Lane, L., de Timary, P., & Luminet, O. (2010, September). Oxytocin Not Only Increases Trust When Money Is at Stake, but Also When Confidential Information Is in the Balance. Biological Psychology, 85, 182–184.
Martin, K. D., Borah, A., & Palmatier, R. W. (2017, January) Data Privacy: Effects on Customer and Firm Performance. Journal of Marketing, 81, 36–58.
Smith, N. C., & Cooper-Martin, E. (1997, July). Ethics and Target Marketing: The Role of Product Harm and Consumer Vulnerability. Journal of Marketing, 61, 1–20.
Vertesi, J. (2014, May 1). My Experiment Opting Out of Big Data Made Me Look Like a Criminal. Time. Available at http://time.com/83200/privacy-internet-big-data-opt-out/. Accessed March 1, 2018.
Solove, D. J. (2003). Identity Theft, Privacy, and the Architecture of Vulnerability. Hastings Law Journal, 54(1227), 1–47.
Identity Theft Resource Center. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.idtheftcenter.org/Data-Breaches/data-breaches.
Martin, K. D., Borah, A., & Palmatier, R. W. (2018, February 15). A Strong Privacy Policy Can Save Your Company Millions. Harvard Business Review. hbr.org..
Feinberg, M., Willer, R., Stellar, J., & Keltner, D. (2012). The Virtues of Gossip: Reputational Information Sharing as Prosocial Behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(5), 1015–1030.
Foster, E. K. (2004). Research on Gossip: Taxonomy, Methods, and Future Directions. Review of General Psychology, 8(2), 78–99.
Emler, N. (1994). Gossip, Reputation and Social Adaption. In R. F. Goodman & A. Ben-Ze’ev (Eds.), Good Gossip (pp. 119–140). Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.
Beersma, B., & Van Kleef, G. A. (2012). Why People Gossip: An Empirical Analysis of Social Motives, Antecedents, and Consequences. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 42(11), 2640–2670.
Mills, C. (2010). Experiencing Gossip: The Foundations for a Theory of Embedded Organizational Gossip. Group and Organization Management, 35(4), 371–390.
Baumeister, R., Zhang, L., & Vohs, K. D. (2004). Gossip as Cultural Learning. Review of General Psychology, 8(2), 111–121.
Leary, M. R., & Leder, S. (2009). The Nature of Hurt Feelings: Emotional Experience and Cognitive Appraisals. In A. L. Vangelisti (Ed.), Feeling Hurt in Close Relationships (pp. 15–33). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Richman, L. S., & Leary, M. R. (2009). Reactions to Discrimination, Stigmatization, Ostracism, and Other Forms of Interpersonal Rejection: A Multimotive Model. Psychological Review, 116(2), 365–383.
Turner, M. M., Mazur, M. A., Wendel, N., & Winslow, R. (2003, June). Relational Ruin or Social Glue? The Joint Effect of Relationship Type and Gossip Valence on Liking, Trust, and Expertise. Communication Monographs, 70, 129–141.
Baker, S. M., Gentry, J. W., & Rittenburg, T. L. (2005, December). Building Understanding of the Domain of Consumer Vulnerability. Journal of Macromarketing, 25, 128–139.
Eder, D., & Enke, J. L. (1991, August). The Structure of Gossip: Opportunities and Constrains on Collective Expression Among Adolescents. American Sociological Review, 56, 494–508.
Cumbley, R., & Church, P. (2013, October). Is ‘Big Data’ Creepy? Computer Law & Security Review, 29, 601–609.
Williams, K. D. (2007). Ostracism. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 425–452.
Kumar, V., Zhang, X., & Luo, A. (2014, August). Modeling Customer Opt-In and Opt-Out in a Permission-Based Marketing Context. Journal of Marketing Research, 51, 403–419.
Steel, E., & Fowler, G. A. (2010). Facebook in Privacy Breach. Wall Street Journal, 256(92), A1–A2.
McKinnon, J., & Hagey, K. (2018). As Mark Zuckerberg Prepares to Testify, Here’s How Washington Could Regulate Silicon Valley. Wall Street Journal. Available at https://www.wsj.com/articles/as-zuckerberg-prepares-to-testify-questions-grow-over-how-to-protect-data-1523266201. Accessed May 22, 2018.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Palmatier, R.W., Martin., K.D. (2019). The Psychology of Consumer Privacy. In: The Intelligent Marketer’s Guide to Data Privacy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03724-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03724-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-03723-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-03724-6
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)