Digital footprint wrangling: are analytics used for better or worse? A concurrent mixed methods research on the commercial (ab)use of dataveillance

Bruno F. Abrantes () and Klaus Grue Ostergaard
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Bruno F. Abrantes: Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College (NBCBC)
Klaus Grue Ostergaard: Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College (NBCBC)

Journal of Marketing Analytics, 2022, vol. 10, issue 3, No 2, 187-206

Abstract: Abstract Despite the introduction in the European Union (EU) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May-18, a growing opposition is noticed against the allegedly hazardous commercial exploitation of the consumer’s digital footprints. A “data autocracy” regime is asserted to be distorting the information to the consumer and bias the ability to take informed free choices. Consequently, companies face nowadays a great data governance challenge, i.e. to restore the consumer’s positive sentiment while continuing to explore Big Data. Hence, we have conducted a multi-method enquiry with foci on the Danish market covering the topic of digital footprint’s awareness. This was fashioned with a descriptive-exploratory research purpose, to understand the sentiment (perception) and the behavior (action) of the data-owners and data-brokers surrounding the dataveillance over personal lives. Results confirmed a generalized inability to minimize risks of data misuse. A new insight for Marketeers is the willingness of some respondents to pay for security services and thus safeguard their privacy (disbelieved of the regulatory compliance system). A perception-behavior gap is noticed on the distress with the exposure of personal information and the paradoxical low self-defensiveness. Likewise, data-brokers admit the deliberate use (perception) of imitation strategies (e.g. hyper-targeting; algorithmic refinement; and, predictive modeling) for maintaining a competitive parity with other firms, which contrasts with the institutional isomorphism (inaction) to interrupt them. Given the relevance of this discussion (and our conclusions) for policy-making, managers (inclusively marketing professionals) and citizens, is recommended the deepening of this research line in the region, especially in Nordic countries.

Keywords: Big data; Consumer’s sentiment; Denmark; Digital footprints; GDPR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: M15 M31 M38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1057/s41270-021-00144-5

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