International records / OpenAlex research

FROM CALCULUS TO SUPPRESSION: RECONCEPTUALISING THE PRIVACY TRADE-OFF IN PERSONALISED ADVERTISING UNDER WEAK ENFORCEMENT

The prevailing account of how consumers make privacy decisions is the privacy calculus, which models disclosure and engagement as a trade in which the benefits of personalisation are weighed against the expected cost to privacy. This paper argues that the calculus is conditional on an institution that most of its evidence has held constant, namely credible enforcement of data protection. Where enforcement is credible, the privacy cost is bounded, because misuse carries consequences and consumers retain recourse, and the calculus behaves as a compensatory trade in which personalisation benefits…