Privacy‐Enhancing Factors and Consumer Concerns: The Moderating Effects of the General Data Protection Regulation
| Published date | 01 October 2023 |
| Author | Richard Evans,Nick Hajli,Tahir M. Nisar |
| Date | 01 October 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12685 |
British Journal of Management, Vol. 34, 2075–2092 (2023)
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8551.12685
Privacy-Enhancing Factors and Consumer
Concerns: The Moderating Effects of the
General Data Protection Regulation
Richard Evans,1Nick Hajli2and Tahir M. Nisar3
1Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada, 2School of Business and
Economics, Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK, and 3Southampton Business School,
University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK
Corresponding author email: t.m.nisar@soton.ac.uk
Privacy is a fundamental right, with humans often wanting to keep their information pri-
vate. Technological advancements are now challenging this right by reducing our control
and creating enhanced privacy risks. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
is a law introduced to protect this right. The aim of this paper is to analyse how privacy-
enhancing factors can inuence consumer privacy concerns and whether these have been
affected by consumer beliefs relating to the GDPR. This paper examines the inuence of
four privacy-enhancing factors (i.e. organizational trust, perceivedpersonalization value,
perceived consumer control and data transparency), which mostly have personality or
attitude-like traits, and the GDPR as a moderating variable. Data were collected from
1154 respondents residing in European Union countries. Results reveal that personaliza-
tion value has a signicant negative relationship with privacy concerns, while consumer
control shares a signicant positive relationship with privacy concerns. Organizational
trust and data transparency did not have a signicant effect on privacy concerns. The
relationship between the privacy-enhancing factors and privacyconcer ns wasnot moder-
ated by consumer belief in the GDPR. Implications and recommendations are provided
to indicate which privacy-enhancing factors should be chosen to reduce privacy concerns
and to highlight the role of the GDPR in moderating these relationships. Ultimately, the
study’sndings provide useful insights for rms operating online in Europe and marketers
aiming to reduce their consumers’ privacy concerns.
Introduction
Society has become increasingly reliant on tech-
nology and data-rich environments (Walker,2016).
Technological advancements make it difcult for
consumers to understand, retain and protect
their privacy (Baek and Morimoto, 2012; Lazaro
and Metayer, 2015). This data-driven world is
intertwined with marketing and public policy
issues on privacy and consumer protection (Hajli
et al., 2021; Poushter, 2016; Walker, 2016) and it is,
therefore,vital that both managers and researchers
understand the role privacy plays in the marketing
context. This can be seen from how consumers
are increasingly exhibiting concerns related to
their privacy (Maseeh et al., 2021). A Kantar
TNS (2017) study found that 53% of consumers
are concerned about the amount of personal
information that companies have access to, while
54% object to connected devices monitoring their
personal activities.
In 2018, the data privacy debate was more
intense than ever, making privacy concerns an
important topic. Data misuse and breach scandals
contributed to heightened concerns, subsequently
making people more aware of privacy issues
A free Teaching and Learning Guide to accompany this article is available at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/
10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8551/homepage/teaching___learning_guides.htm
© 2022 British Academy of Management.
2076 Evans et al.
(Mele, 2018). Prior to this, Cambridge Analytica
was revealed to have illegally harvested users’
Facebook data to build models for predicting and
inuencing consumers during the 2016 United
States presidential election. The personal infor-
mation of over 87 million users was covertly
collected for purposes to which users had not
consented (Graham-Harrison and Cadwalladr,
2018). The scandal became an exemplar of how
data can be wrongly used against consumers’ will
and for purposes they have no control over. It
prompted feelings of consumer vulnerability and
proved to the European Union (EU) that carrying
out data protection reform was a step in the right
direction (European Commission, 2018a). On 25
May 2018, the General Data Protection Regula-
tion (GDPR) came into force, replacing the EU’s
outdated privacy directives (Goddard, 2017).
The GDPR mandates the handling of personal
data byany company that processes the dataof EU
inhabitants and, accordingly, has a global impact
on commerce (European Commission, 2018a).
The law provides consumers with increased con-
trol and protection while enabling the growth
of the digital economy (European Commission,
2018b). As the GDPR has only been in force
since May 2018, there is limited extant research
on its effects (Bauer et al., 2021). Accordingly,
this study investigates whether privacy concerns
have been affected by the GDPR. Advancements
in technology, media focus on data breaches and
the emergence of the GDPR have collectively
called for additional research into the information
privacy eld. In this study, we focus on consumer
privacy concerns in the context of the GDPR and
how marketing managerscan work to reduce these
concerns. While much research exists on privacy
concerns in marketing, little emphasis has been
placed on the causes of privacy concerns.
Consequently, the aim of this study is to
provide insights into exactly what affects con-
sumer privacy concerns online. We focus on four
privacy-enhancing factors, namely: organizational
trust, perceived personalization value, perceived
consumer control and data transparency. Addi-
tionally, the GDPR is investigated as a potential
moderator of the relationship between privacy-
enhancing factors and privacy concerns. In terms
of our conceptual framework, we aim to examine
the following research objectives: (1) why con-
sumers are concerned about their privacy today;
(2) the impact of privacy-enhancing factors on
consumer privacy concerns; and (3) whether the
GDPR has inuenced the relationship between
privacy-enhancing factors and consumer privacy
concerns. In other words, do privacy-enhancing
factors signicantly affect consumer privacy con-
cerns, and has consumers’ knowledge and trust in
the GDPR moderated the relationship between
privacy-enhancing factors and consumer privacy
concerns?
The rest of this paper is organized as follows.
First, we provide a brief review of the existing
literature on consumer privacy in the marketing
sphere and identify relevant gaps. The hypotheses
are then explained, and a theoretical framework
is presented. The proposed methodology is intro-
duced, then the results are discussed, including
managerial implications and research limitations.
Finally, the conclusion summarizes the work and
recommends future research directions.
Literature review
Consumer privacy concerns
Contemporary philosophers have identied pri-
vacy as a key aspect of human dignity (Schoeman,
1984). Currently, there is no widely agreed deni-
tion for privacy and, while some argue it is simply
not possible to dene it (Okazaki, Li and Hirose,
2009), this should not prevent the study of privacy
as a concept. The most inuential formulation
of privacy is probably that provided by Westin
(1970, p. 7), who dened the term as ‘the claim of
individuals, groups, or institutions to determine
for themselves when, how, and to what extent
information about them is communicated to oth-
ers’. Information privacy is built on the idea that
consumers have the right to choose what personal
information they want to share with other parties,
how they want to share it, and how it may be used
by other parties (Foxman and Kilcoyne, 1993;
Lazaro and Metayer, 2015; Tseng et al., 2022).
Stone et al. (1983, p. 461) dene information pri-
vacy as ‘the ability of the individual to personally
control information about one’s self’.
When consumer information is used with care,
it can benet both marketers and consumers.With
technological advancements, consumers are being
delivered more personalized content, communi-
cations and product offerings, which are better
© 2022 British Academy of Management.
To continue reading
Request your trial