Re-examining privacy conceptualisation in the context of online behavioural advertising : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

Abstract

This PhD thesis challenges dominant assumptions about consumer privacy in Online Behavioural Advertising (OBA). While most research defines privacy as “control,” this study critically asks whether that concept, and the findings built on it, actually reflect how people experience privacy online. Accordingly, the thesis addresses the overarching research question: 𝘏𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘖𝘉𝘈? 𝘐𝘧 𝘯𝘰𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘖𝘉𝘈?

Grounded in 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘮 (Niiniluoto, 1999), the thesis aims to examine whether privacy theories and empirical evidence in OBA are 𝘤𝘰𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭, that is, whether they offer a true representation of reality (Niiniluoto, 1999). Through critical examinations of key privacy conceptualisations, theories and research in OBA, the thesis argues that much of the existing research lacks cognitive success. Specifically, privacy as “control” fails to achieve cognitive success in capturing individual heterophenomenological cognition of privacy experience (Dennett, 2007), while also neglecting privacy’s social value (Hull, 2015). But the problems don’t stop at definitions. This thesis also exposes key theoretical cracks in the empirical foundations. A critical examination reveals four core issues undermining the coherence of the empirical findings: the confounding contextual variables, the misspecification of cognitive appraisal variables, the missing trade-offs, and the shaky mediator.

While offering cognitively successful solutions, the thesis delivers three major contributions: (1) it reconceptualises privacy as a state, capturing the psychological nature of how people experience privacy today, while highlighting privacy’s social value; (2) it synthesises and critiques fragmented empirical findings to expose deeper theoretical problems, serving as a template and encouragement for other researchers to present robust critiques of privacy in OBA; and (3) it introduces the Contextual Privacy State model, a novel framework that offers a more realistic and scientifically grounded understanding of privacy in digital environments. Together, these contributions push privacy research toward greater theoretical rigour and cognitive success.