Behavioral Advertising Research Agenda, the Academic Perspective. Based on the Research Paper on Behavioral Advertising.

1. Behavioral Advertising
The academic perspective
dr. Sophie Boerman Masterclass UT
Oct 2, 2017

3. 3

8. 8
Personalizing advertising
The future of advertising
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bXJ_obaiYQ

9. OBA
 Personalizing advertising is seen as the future of
advertising.
 Advertisers say click through rates increase with 670%
and doubles conversion.
(Beales, 2010, Chen & Stallaert, 2014)

10. OBA: privacy debate
 OBA has also received a lot of attention of
regulators, lawmakers, consumer protection
organizations, and scholars.

11. But what do we
know about OBA?

12. Aims of our literature review
1) Define OBA;
2) Provide an overview of the empirical findings regarding OBA
by developing a framework that identifies and integrates all
factors that can explain consumer responses towards OBA;
3) Provide an overview of the theoretical positioning of OBA
by placing the theories that are used to explain consumers’
responses to OBA in our framework;
4) Develop a research agenda.
12

13. Literature review
 Databases: PsycINFO, Web of Science, Communication &
Mass Media Complete, Academic Search Premier, database
of the World Advertising Research Center
 Search terms: “online behavioral / behavioural advertising”,
“online behavioral / behavioural targeting”, “customized /
customised advertising”, “personalized / personalized (online)
advertising”, “online profiling”

14. Literature review
 32 empirical studies
21 journal articles
6 conference proceedings
1 book chapter
4 online manuscripts
 2008 - 2016

15. Aim 1. Define online behavioral
advertising
“The practice of monitoring people’s online
behavior and using the collected information to
show people individually targeted advertisements”

16. Aim 2. Overview of empirical research
 Relationships with empirical support
 Find all variables that are of importance to
understand responses to OBA
 Group variables into main factors

17. Aim 2: Overview of empirical research
17
Advertiser-controlled factors Consumer-controlled factors Outcomes

18. Aim 2: Overview of empirical research
18

19. Advertiser-controlled
factors
19

20. Advertiser-controlled factors
Ad characteristics
 Level of personalization (type and amount of information used)
and accuracy influence
• consumer-related factors (e.g., feelings of intrusiveness,
perceived usefulness, reactance, and privacy concerns)
• OBA outcomes (e.g., click-through intentions and rates)

21. Advertiser-controlled factors
Transparancy
 Current transparency approaches (informed consents, logos)
hardly read nor understood, and often ineffective

22. Consumer-controlled
factors
22

23. Consumer-controlled factors
Knowledge and abilities
 Consumers have little knowledge about OBA and hold
misconceptions.
 A minority of consumers do want to protect their
personal data but often do not know why and how.

24. Consumer-controlled factors
Perceptions
 Some see the benefits of OBA
 But majority seem to be skeptical towards OBA, and find it
invasive and “creepy”.
 Privacy concerns and trust play important role in consumer
acceptance and effects of OBA.

25. Consumer-controlled factors
Consumer characteristics
 Responses to OBA differ between consumers based on
• Levels of privacy concerns
• Desire for privacy
• Decision stage, needs
• Education
• Age
• Online experience

26. Outcomes
26

27. OBA Outcomes
Advertising effects
 OBA can increase click through intentions
and rates, purchase intentions and actual
purchases.
 Transparency appreciated and positive
influence on brand recall and ad
relevance

28. OBA Outcomes
Advertising effects
 OBA can increase click through rates and
purchases.
depending on various moderators and
mediators (e.g., experienced vulnerability,
feelings of intrusiveness, trust in retailer)
 You can go too far, leading to negative
feelings such as privacy concerns,
perceived vulnerability, reactance.

29. OBA Outcomes
OBA acceptance and resistance
 People’s acceptance and avoidance of OBA depend on
• Privacy concerns
• Skepticism
• Perceived personalization
• Transparency

30. Aim 3: Theoretical positioning of OBA
30

31. Aim 4: Research Agenda
1. Theoretical Advancement
2. Understand Acceptance of and Resistance toward OBA
3. Empower the Consumer
4. Novel Methodological Approaches
31

32. Theoretical Advancement
 Field is fragmented
 Research often lacks solid theoretical basis
32

33. Understand Acceptance of
and Resistance toward OBA
 Why do people like or dislike OBA?
 Tipping point: What levels of personalization are acceptable?
 Who is more likely to accept?
33

34. Empower the Consumer
 Knowledge is limited: How can we educate people about OBA?
 How can we learn them to protect their online privacy?
 How can we make transparency approaches more effective?
34

35. Novel Methodological Approaches
 Now: mostly scenario-based experiments, but also field
experiments, surveys, content analysis, focus groups
 Combine data sources, big data
 Tracking consumers’ online behavior
 Implicit, unobtrusive measures to gain insights into
processing (e.g., eye tracking)
 Longitudinal studies to examine changes over time
35

36. Take away
 OBA seen as the future of advertising
 Academic research adds nuance
 Yes, OBA can positively influence click through rates
and purchases
 But you can go too far
 People have privacy concerns and find it ‘creepy’
 Transparency appreciated and beneficial for advertisers

38. Thank you!
dr. Sophie Boerman
s.c.boerman@uva.nl
@sophieboerman
personalised-communication.net