Abstract:
Marketing communications media technologies have the potential to be intrusive and
influence consumers' perceptions of marketing communication. Aggressive direct
marketing (DM) is one communication tool that has the potential to lead to consumer
concern about information privacy. Concerned consumers change their behavior: They
refuse to buy through risky channels or provide information, thus jeopardizing the aim of
DM. Responsible DM can prevent such reactions and build trust. Typical measures taken
and recommended to protect consumers from privacy violations are of a regulative rather
than a market-oriented nature, which is directly opposed to companies' profitmaximization
aims. We propose a segmentation-based approach for responsible DM,
based on consumer heterogeneity regarding privacy concerns and privacy-related
behavior. Using two independent samples from South Africa and Australia, we explore
consumers' views on privacy issues and examine the potential of a market-oriented
approach to responsible DM.
