30000257.pdf - Privacy Recognition of a Consumer Right...

Privacy: Recognition of a Consumer Right
Author(s): Cathy Goodwin
Source: Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Spring, 1991), pp. 149-166
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc.
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Privacy: Recognition of a Consumer Right
Cathy Goodwin
The author thanks MICHAEL MAZIS
for detailed comments and encour-
agement throughout the project.
The author also thanks JAMES KEL-
LARIS, ROBERT ROGERS and IVAN
Ross for comments on the man-
uscript. Support was provided by
the School of Management of the
University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and
the Interlibrary Loan program of the
Rasmuson Library.
This paper presents an overview of consumer privacy that integrates the public policy and be-
havioral literatures. Consumer privacy is defined in terms of control over information disclo-
sure and the environment in which a consumer transaction occurs. These two dimensions
generate a 2x2 matrix, identifying four states of privacy based on control over environment,
information disclosure, both, or neither. For each state, managerial and policy implications
can be derived.
Government, industry, and academic sources suggest that consumer privacy has
become a critical public policy topic. Bonnie Guiton, special advisor to the presi-
dent for consumer affairs and director of the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs,
recently cited privacy as one of three major issues for consumers of the 1990s
[Dlabay 1990]. The issue was identified as "major challenge of the 1990s" by an
officer of the Direct Marketing Association (Barton 1989). A professor of com-
munications noted:
"When I first wrote lectures for a university course called 'Communication Law,' I gave
only routine attention to privacy, as compared to what I thought were more important-
and, frankly, more interesting-topics. Today, the course risks being dominated by pri-
vacy. It has become an important and interesting topic" [Hixson 1987, p. xiv].
Despite the growing importance of this topic, research has been extremely lim-
ited [cf. Baker et al. 1986; McCrohan 1989]. This paper undertakes an integrative
literature review to identify critical issues, proposing a theoretical framework with
research implications.