Privacy controls as an information source to reduce data poisoning in artificial intelligence-powered personalization

Abstract

The latest advances in data-driven marketing, such as real-time personalization, have increasingly made consumers more vulnerable. In response, some consumers deliberately falsify information in order to redress the balance of power, a practice that constitutes a serious threat to the digital economy. The topic of falsification is still largely under-researched in information systems and marketing. Based on protection motivation theory, the author conceptualizes privacy controls as a source of information and the falsification of information as a coping response, with vulnerability representing the threat appraisal mechanism and self-efficacy the coping appraisal mechanism. Through a within-subject experiment (n = 207), the results of the mediation analysis for repeated measures show that the effect of privacy controls as a source of information on the falsification of information is fully mediated by vulnerability and self-efficacy. The author provides insights for managers regarding the significant trade-off between reducing consumer vulnerability and maintaining the usefulness of the data.