University of Twente Student Theses

Online behavioral advertising: Lucrative or creepy? An experimental study into the effects of level of personalization, data source creepiness and information disclosure on online behavioral advertising effectiveness.

Scholten, J.D.F. (2019) Online behavioral advertising: Lucrative or creepy? An experimental study into the effects of level of personalization, data source creepiness and information disclosure on online behavioral advertising effectiveness.

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Abstract:	AIM. Advertisers are tailoring ads to the behavior and characteristics of consumers. For this, consumer data are needed, which are collected from browsing behavior and social media, but also from instant messaging platforms. Yet, it remains unclear how consumers will react to ads based on their private conversations on instant messaging platforms. Therefore, the aim of this study is to experimentally investigate the effects of level of personalization, data source creepiness, and information disclosure on OBA effectiveness, and add new insights about these effects to existing theory. Furthermore, the mediating effect of perceived intrusiveness and perceived vulnerability is tested. METHOD. An online experiment, using a scenario-based 2 (level of personalization: high vs. low) × 2 (data source creepiness: less creepy vs. creepier) × 2 (information disclosure: presence vs. absence) between-subjects design was executed among 282 Dutch participants. FINDINGS. The results of this study show that a high level of personalization causes more Online Behavioral Advertising effectiveness than a low level of personalization. No mediating effect of perceived intrusiveness and perceived vulnerability were found. Also, the expected negative effect of data source creepiness was not found. Surprisingly, consumers did not mind to see an advertisement that was based on a creepy data source, unless it was accompanied by information disclosure. CONCLUSION. It seems that consumers do not mind to see an ad that is based on a creepy data source, unless you make them aware of this. Yet, this is not an invitation for advertisers to use such sources without mentioning it. Lower OBA effectiveness when the creepy data source was mentioned in a disclosure, can also indicate that consumers do not like these data to be used for a personalized ad. Advertisers and academics should be wary of concerns that are present among consumers and should seriously consider whether the use of data sources that are perceived as creepy is a lucrative and ethical practice.
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	05 communication studies
Programme:	Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/79905
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