The Importance of Brand Trust: A Moderating Role in the Relationship between Privacy Concerns and Click-Through Intention

Abstract

Though personalised social media advertising (PSMA) is considered one of the most relevant and useful marketing strategies in social commerce, it may trigger consumers’ concerns about their online privacy and security, consumers may feel threatened. Previous research investigated the antecedents of privacy concerns; however, the moderating factors that could strengthen or weaken the influences of privacy concerns are overlooked. Therefore, this research performs a 2x2 between-subject laboratory experiment to examine consumers’ privacy concerns within the context of PSMA and the moderating effect of brand trust in the relationship between privacy concerns and click-through intention. For the two manipulators (i.e. advert personalisation and brand trust), this research establishes two online stores (trusted and untrusted versions) for a fictitious retailer, Trainer Station, and designs personalised and non-personalised Instagram-advert-styled screenshots. This research collects 606 responses from members of Generation Y in the United Kingdom who have prior experience using Instagram and purchasing fashion products online. The results suggest that, compared to non-personalised adverts, personalised adverts may cause a higher level of perceived usefulness, while consumers’ privacy concerns have no significant differences. The link between privacy calculus theory and the theory of reasoned action (TRA) enables the examination of the moderating effect of brand trust. Privacy concerns and perceived usefulness could influence consumers’ click-through intention through behavioural attitudes. Moreover, though brand trust may not moderate the relationship between perceived usefulness and attitudes, it could balance out the negative influences of privacy concerns on attitudes: when consumers receive adverts from the trusted retailer, consumers may still have held a positive attitude toward clicking, even if they felt their online privacy is threatened. This research provides insights into the privacy calculus theory, hence contributing to the development of the existing theoretical framework of consumers’ behaviour. Additionally, this research aids managers and marketing practitioners in improving the effectiveness of PSMA. In order to have a further understanding of consumers’ privacy concerns, future research should consider the impact of other factors (e.g. consumers’ characteristics) on it.

Date of Award	31 Dec 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Amy Benstead (Supervisor), Delia Vazquez (Supervisor) & Marta Blazquez Cano (Supervisor)