The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) mandates explicit user opt-in consent for data access. It recommends transparency in opt-in requests about data collection, storage, and use, without specifying the format of these requests. Consequently, the GDPR gives firms flexibility in designing opt-in messages. This research uses theory, multiple datasets, and methods to investigate firms’ communication formats for opt-in requests, addressing three questions: (1) How do firms design their opt-in requests? (2) Does the chosen format affect consumer response? (3) What drives firms’ choices of formats? The analysis of 1,506 repermission emails from 1,396 firms post-GDPR shows that 26% use only persuasive cues to request data, while 24% blend persuasive and informative cues. Notably, businesses with an offline presence use more persuasive cues compared with purely digital entities. A field experiment rationalizes this behavior showing that informative cues alone did not improve opt-in; a mix of persuasive and informative cues proved more successful. Additionally, firms dependent on personal data use persuasive cues more often than firms concerned with reputational risks of GDPR noncompliance. This study offers pivotal insights for regulators, firms, and consumers, revealing variations in how different firms acquire consent and the impact of their strategies on user behavior.
AcquistiAlessandroAdjeridIdrisBalebakoRebeccaBrandimarteLauraCranorLorrie FaithKomanduriSarangaLeonPedro G.SadehNormanSchaubFlorianSleeperManyaWangYangWilsonShomir (2017), “Nudges for Privacy and Security: Understanding and Assisting Users’ Choices Online,” ACM Computing Surveys, 50 (3), 1–41.
2.
AcquistiAlessandroAdjeridIdrisBrandimarteLaura (2013), “Gone in 15 Seconds: The Limits of Privacy Transparency and Control,” IEEE Security & Privacy, 11 (4), 72–74.
3.
AcquistiAlessandroFriedmanAlanTelangRahul (2006), “Is There a Cost to Privacy Breaches? An Event Study,” ICIS Proceedings, 94, https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2006/94.
4.
AcquistiAlessandroJohnLeslie K.LoewensteinGeorge (2012), “The Impact of Relative Standards on the Propensity to Disclose,” Journal of Marketing Research, 49 (2), 160–74.
5.
AcquistiAlessandroJohnLeslie K.LoewensteinGeorge (2013), “What Is Privacy Worth?” Journal of Legal Studies, 42 (2), 249–74.
6.
AdjeridIdrisAcquistiAlessandroBrandimarteLauraLoewensteinGeorge (2013), “Sleights of Privacy: Framing, Disclosures, and the Limits of Transparency,” in Proceedings of the Ninth Symposium on Usable Privacy and Security, 9.
AguirreElizabethMahrDominikGrewalDhruvDe RuyterKoWetzelsMartin (2015), “Unraveling the Personalization Paradox: The Effect of Information Collection and Trust-Building Strategies on Online Advertisement Effectiveness,” Journal of Retailing, 91 (1), 34–49.
9.
AngelGary (2018), “The Other 180°: Filling in the Other Half of the 360° Customer View,” Applied Marketing Analytics, 4 (2), 136–48.
10.
AtheySusanCataliniChristianTuckerCatherine (2017), “The Digital Privacy Paradox: Small Money, Small Costs, Small Talk,” working paper No. w23488, National Bureau of Economic Research.
11.
AzizArslanTelangRahul (2015), “What Is a Cookie Worth?” Workshop on the Economics of Information Security.
12.
BensonVladlenaSaridakisGeorgeTennakoonHemamaali (2015), “Information Disclosure of Social Media Users: Does Control over Personal Information, User Awareness and Security Notices Matter?” Information Technology and People, 28 (3), 426–41.
13.
BleiDavid M.NgAndrew Y.JordanMichael I. (2003), “Latent Dirichlet Allocation,” Journal of Machine Learning Research, 3 (January), 993–1022.
14.
BleierAlexanderEisenbeissMaik (2015), “Personalized Online Advertising Effectiveness: The Interplay of What, When, and Where,” Marketing Science, 34 (5), 669–88.
15.
BleierAlexanderGoldfarbAviTuckerCatherine (2020), “Consumer Privacy and the Future of Data-Based Innovation and Marketing,” International Journal of Research in Marketing, 37 (3), 466–80.
16.
BrehmJack W. (1966), A Theory of Psychological Reactance. Academic Press.
17.
CampbellJamesGoldfarbAviTuckerCatherine (2015), “Privacy Regulation and Market Structure,” Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 24 (1), 47–73.
18.
CatapangJasper KyleCleofasJerome V.. (2022). “Topic Modeling, Clade-Assisted Sentiment Analysis, and Vaccine Brand Reputation Analysis of COVID-19 Vaccine-Related Facebook Comments in the Philippines,” in 2022 IEEE 16th International Conference on Semantic Computing (ICSC). IEEE.
ChellappaRamnath K.SinRaymond G. (2005), “Personalization Versus Privacy: An Empirical Examination of the Online Consumer’s Dilemma,” Information Technology and Management, 6, 181–202.
21.
ChoiW. JasonJerathKinshukSarvaryMiklos (2023), “Consumer Privacy Choices and (Un)Targeted Advertising Along the Purchase Journey,” Journal of Marketing Research, 60 (5), 889–907.
22.
CohenJacob (1960), “A Coefficient of Agreement for Nominal Scales,” Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 37–46.
23.
CollisAvinashMoehringAlexSenAnanyaAcquistiAlessandro (2021), “Information Frictions and Heterogeneity in Valuations of Personal Data,” SSRN (November 30), https://ssrn.com/abstract=3974826
DevlinJacobChangMing-WeiLeeKentonToutanovaKristina (2019), “BERT: Pre-Training of Deep Bidirectional Transformers for Language Understanding,” arXiv preprint, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.1810.04805.
26.
DinevTamaraHartPaul (2004), “Internet Privacy Concerns and Their Antecedents—Measurement Validity and a Regression Model,” Behaviour and Information Technology, 23 (6), 413–22.
27.
DrugovMikhailTroya-MartinezMarta (2019), “Vague Lies and Lax Standards of Proof: On the Law and Economics of Advice,” Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 28 (2), 298–315.
28.
FischhoffBaruch (2015), “The Realities of Risk-Cost-Benefit Analysis,” Science, 350 (6260), aaa6516.
29.
Godinho de MatosMiguelAdjeridIdris (2021), “Consumer Consent and Firm Targeting After GDPR: The Case of a Large Telecom Provider,” Management Science, 68 (5), 3330–78.
30.
GoldbergSamuelJohnsonGarrettShriverScott (2019), “Regulating Privacy Online: The Early Impact of the GDPR on European Web Traffic and E-Commerce Outcomes,” SSRN, https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3421731.
31.
GoldfarbAviTuckerCatherine E. (2011), “Privacy Regulation and Online Advertising,” Management Science, 57 (1), 57–71.
32.
GrossklagsJensAcquistiAlessandro (2007), “When 25 Cents Is Too Much: An Experiment on Willingness-to-Sell and Willingness-to-Protect Personal Information,” Workshop on the Economics of Information Security, https://econinfosec.org/archive/weis2007/papers/66.pdf.
HartmannJochenNetzerOded (2023), “Natural Language Processing in Marketing,” Artificial Intelligence in Marketing, 20, 191–215.
35.
HoffmannFlorianInderstRomanOttavianiMarco (2020), “Persuasion Through Selective Disclosure: Implications for Marketing, Campaigning, and Privacy Regulation,” Management Science, 66 (11), 4958–79.
36.
JentzschNicolaPreibuschS.HarasserA. (2012), Study on Monetising Privacy. European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA).
37.
JiaJianJinGinger ZheWagmanLiad (2021), “The Short-Run Effects of the General Data Protection Regulation on Technology Venture Investment,” Marketing Science, 40 (4), 661–84.
38.
JohnLeslie K.AcquistiAlessandroLoewensteinGeorge (2011), “Strangers on a Plane: Context-Dependent Willingness to Divulge Sensitive Information,” Journal of Consumer Research, 37 (5), 858–73.
39.
JohnsonErik J.BellmanStevenLohseGerald L. (2002), “Defaults, Framing, and Privacy: Why Opting In-Opting Out,” Marketing Letters, 13 (1), 5–15.
40.
JohnsonGarrettShriverScott K.DuShooyin (2020), “Consumer Privacy Choice in Online Advertising: Who Opts Out and at What Cost to Industry?” Marketing Science, 39 (1), 33–51.
41.
JohnsonGarrettShriverScott K.GoldbergSamuel G. (2023), “Privacy & Market Concentration: Intended & Unintended Consequences of the GDPR,” Management Science, 69 (10), 5695–5721.
42.
KrafftManfredArdenChristine M.VerhoefPeter C. (2017), “Permission Marketing and Privacy Concerns—Why Do Customers (Not) Grant Permissions?” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 39 (August), 39–54.
43.
KummerMichaelSchultePatrick (2019), “When Private Information Settles the Bill: Money and Privacy in Google’s Market for Smartphone Applications,” Management Science, 65 (8), 3470–94.
44.
LibertTimothyNielsenRasmus (2018), Third-Party Web Content on E.U. News Sites: Potential Challenges and Paths to Privacy Improvement. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism.
45.
LwinMayWirtzJochenWilliamsJerome D. (2007), “Consumer Online Privacy Concerns and Responses: A Power–Responsibility Equilibrium Perspective,” Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 35 (4), 572–85.
46.
MalhotraNaresh K.KimSung S.AgarwalJames (2004), “Internet Users’ Information Privacy Concerns (IUIPC): The Construct, the Scale, and a Causal Model,” Information Systems Research, 15 (4), 336–55.
47.
MarottaVeronicaAbhishekVibhanshuAcquistiAlessandro (2019), “Online Tracking and Publishers’ Revenues: An Empirical Analysis,” working paper, Workshop on the Economics of Information Security.
48.
MarthewsAlexTuckerCatherine (2019), “Privacy Policy and Competition,” Brookings (December 5), https://www.brookings.edu/articles/privacy-policy-and-competition/.
49.
MartinKelly D.BorahAbhishekPalmatierRobert W. (2017), “Data Privacy: Effects on Customer and Firm Performance,” Journal of Marketing, 81 (1), 36–58.
50.
MilneGeorge R.CulnanMary J. (2004), “Strategies for Reducing Online Privacy Risks: Why Consumers Read (or Don’t Read) Online Privacy Notices,” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 18 (3), 15–29.
51.
MohanBhavyaBuellRyan W.JohnLeslie K. (2020), “Lifting the Veil: The Benefits of Cost Transparency,” Marketing Science, 39 (6), 1105–21.
52.
MultonKaren D (2010), “Interrater Reliability,” in Encyclopedia of Research Design, SalkindN.J., ed. Sage, 627–62.
NeumannNicoTuckerCatherine E.WhitfieldTimothy (2019), “Frontiers: How Effective Is Third-Party Consumer Profiling? Evidence from Field Studies,” Marketing Science, 38 (6), 918–26.
PapkeLeslie E.WooldridgeJeffrey M. (1996), “Econometric Methods for Fractional Response Variables with an Application to 401(K) Plan Participation Rates,” Journal of Applied Econometrics, 11 (6), 619–32.
57.
PettyRichard E.CacioppoJohn T. (1986), “The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion,” in Communication and Persuasion. Springer, 1–24.
58.
PettyRichard E.WegenerDuane T.FabrigarLeandre R. (1997), “Attitudes and Attitude Change,” Annual Review of Psychology, 48 (1), 609–47.
59.
PeukertChristianBechtoldStefanBatikasMichailKretschmerTobias (2022), “Regulatory Spillovers and Data Governance: Evidence from the GDPR,” Marketing Science, 41 (4), 746–68.
60.
PhelpsJosephNowakGlenFerrellElizabeth (2000), “Privacy Concerns and Consumer Willingness to Provide Personal Information,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 19 (1), 27–41.
ReynaertMathiasSalleeJames M. (2021), “Who Benefits When Firms Game Corrective Policies?” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 13 (1), 372–412.
63.
RutzOliver J.TrusovMichaelBucklinRandolph E. (2011), “Modeling Indirect Effects of Paid Search Advertising: Which Keywords Lead to More Future Visits?” Marketing Science, 30 (4), 646–65.
64.
SharmaPriyankaSunYidanWagmanLiad, (2019), “The Differential Effects of Privacy Protections and Digital Ad Taxes on Publisher and Advertiser Profitability,” SSRN, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3503065.
65.
SievertCarsonShirleyKenneth (2014), “LDAvis: A Method for Visualizing and Interpreting Topics,” in Proceedings of the Workshop on Interactive Language Learning, Visualization, and Interfaces, ChuangJasonGreenSpenceHearstMartiHeerJeffreyKoehnPhilipp, eds. Association for Computational Linguistics, 63–70.
Statista (2022), “Digital Advertising Market Share of Major Companies Worldwide 2016–2023,” Statista Research Department (March 9), https://www.statista.com/statistics/290629/.
68.
SunTianshuYuanZheLiChunxiaoZhangKaifuXuJun (2023), “The Value of Personal Data in Internet Commerce: A High-Stake Field Experiment on Data Regulation Policy,” Management Science, 70 (4), 2645–60.
69.
ThalerRichardSunsteinCass R. (2008), Nudge: Improving Decision Under Health. Yale University Press.
TomainoGeoffWertenbrochKlausWaltersDaniel J. (2023), “Intransitivity of Consumer Preferences for Privacy,” Journal of Marketing Reseigurearch, 60, 489–507.
72.
TuckerCatherine (2014), “Social Networks, Personalized Advertising, and Privacy Controls,” Journal of Marketing Research, 51 (5), 546–62.
XuHengTeoHock-HaiTanBernard C.Y.AgarwalRitu (2012), “Research Note—Effects of Individual Self-Protection, Industry Self-Regulation, and Government Regulation on Privacy Concerns: A Study of Location-Based Services,” Information Systems Research, 23 (4), 1342–63.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
