Learning objectives
The assignment aims to develop students’ ability for conducting qualitative research in marketing. It is expected that you will be able to take the opportunity to learn how to conduct a literature review on a topic of interest and develop the capacity for cultivating further insight through focus group or personal interviews, and write-up a final research report.

Topic of Interest
Due to advances in information and communication technologies and the prevalence of social media, most firms, including retailers and market research companies, nowadays can have widespread access to consumers’ personal information (Farshidi, 2016). In theory, with sophisticated use of consumer data, marketers can offer personalized products and services, customized recommendations, price discounts, and more relevant marketing communications and media content (Martin & Murphy, 2017). On the downside, personalization in marketing may be associated with privacy invasions, unwanted marketing communications, and even venerability to fraud, which potentially disrupt the rhythm of day-to-day activities (Aguirre et al.,2016; Brooke et al., 2019; Martin & Murphy, 2017). A recent survey report by Delloit (Sides et al., 2019) suggests that while consumers may like the individualized attention to the benefits provided, they are becoming increasingly more sensitive to privacy matters. These trends have led to a heightened focus on consumer privacy by academic researchers, social critics, and regulators, yet the personalizationprivacy tradeoff is critical and warrant further investigation (e.g., Anant et al., 2020; Bandara, Fernando, & Akter, 2020; Farshidi, 2016; Yaprakli & Unalan, 2017). Therefore, students are required to:

1. conduct a literature review by drawing from the knowledge base on privacy and consumer data use in marketing practices to capture what we know, and what remains to be understood in this area;
2. based on the literature review (5-6 journal articles, develop your own research questions and theoretical framework (key constructs and their relationships) about the personalization-privacy tradeoff;
3. conduct online focus groups (1-2 focus groups) or personal interview (8-10 respondents) and report your finings and implications.

Taken together, your research report should further advance the knowledge and provide novel insight on the personalization and privacy issues, and lead to important implications for managing the effectiveness of personalized mobile or e-commerce marketing practices. For policy makers, your research may also provide some guidance with respect to regulatory control on data privacy.

Suggested Content (for your reference only)

1. Purpose of the Research (a short paragraph)
2. Conceptual Background (literature review section, highlight of the background knowledge based on 5-6 journal articles from your own search using Google Scholar, or selective use of the reference list in this report)
3. Research Framework (key variables of your interest and their relationships serve as a general guidance for your research questions and empirical inquiry)
4. Primary Data Collection: Online Focus Group Study (description of how the study is conducted)
5. Analyses and Results (refer to Chapter 9 for qualitative data analysis) 6. Managerial Implications

References

Aguirre, E., Roggeveen, A. L., Grewal, D., & Wetzels, M. (2016). The personalization-privacy paradox: implications for new media. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 2(1): 1-12.

Anant, V., Donchak, L., Kaplan, J., & Soll, H. (2020). The consumer-data opportunity and the privacy imperative. McKinsey & Company, April 27: 1-14.

Bandara, R., Fernando, M., & Akter, S. (2020). Managing consumer privacy concerns and defensive behaviours in the digital marketplace. European Journal of Marketing, 5 (2): 20-31.

Brooke, A., Rainie, L., Anderson, M., Perrin, A. Kumar, M., & Turner, E. (2019). Americans and privacy: Concerned, confused and feeling lack of control over their personal information. Internet & Technology, November 15: 1-13.

Farshidi, A. (2016). The new retail experience and its unaddressed privacy concerns: how RFID and mobile location analytics are collecting customer information. Journal of Law, Technology, & the Internet, 7: 15-38.

Krishen, A. S., Raschke, R. L., Close, A. G., & Kachroo, P. (2017). A power-responsibility equilibrium framework for fairness: Understanding consumers’ implicit privacy concerns for location-based services. Journal of Business Research, 73: 20-29.

Martin, K. D., & Murphy, P. E. (2017). The role of data privacy in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 45(2: 135-155.

Sides, R., March, M., Goldberg, R. & Mangold, M. (2019). Consumer privacy in retail: The next regulatory and competitive frontier. Deloitte Development LLC: 1-13. https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/consumerbusiness/us-retail-privacy-survey-2019.pdf

Yaprakli, T. S., & Unalan, M. (2017). Consumer privacy in the era of big data: A Survey of smartphone user’s concerns. Press Academia Procedia, 4(1): 1-10.

Requirements and Due

1. Length of the report: 1000-1200 words (excluding references and attachment of focus group or interview questions, figures or tables, if any)
2. Content and format: Research report with rigor and relevance.
3. Consent form: To be completed by the respondents prior to data collection
4. Refer to Chapter 5 for focus group study

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