In an environment where supply exceeds demand, choosing the most appropriate alternative among many has become a key issue for today's consumers. With the spread of mobile devices and the general use of SNS, the current era continues to produce new co...
In an environment where supply exceeds demand, choosing the most appropriate alternative among many has become a key issue for today's consumers. With the spread of mobile devices and the general use of SNS, the current era continues to produce new contents even at this moment, and consumers are living in overflowing contents to the extent that the term 'content smog' emerges. To solve this problem, companies analyze consumers, predict their tastes and preferences, and recommend information or products that are tailored to each individual. By using recommendation service consumers can make their choices easier. In this study, we will look into how this recommendation service is implemented in the media environment market.
With the development of the media environment, consumers can watch broadcast programs and video contents that they want to watch anytime and anywhere through OTT (Over-The-Top) service. We will focus on “YouTube,” which is used by the largest number of consumers among various OTT services.
Consumers use YouTube which has full of numerous information and contents, but through the content recommendation service, they can easily obtain the information and contents they want. The core of the content recommendation service is to select and recommend the information and contents that consumers want the most among many information contents based on data from consumers using the service.
Content recommendation services have the advantage of making consumers’ choices more easier by recommending content that consumers will like more accurately based on AI. However, the possible disadvantages of using these services are also not to be overlooked. Automated referral services can also violate consumer choice and autonomy. In addition, consumer privacy problems may occur as the personal information provided by consumers to receive recommendations is continuously collected by the companies.
This study examined the consumer privacy concerns that consumers have in using content recommendation services. By dividing consumer privacy concerns into three concerns: data collection ‧ sales ‧ retention concerns, device and service sharing concerns, and filter bubble concerns. The factors affecting consumer privacy concerns were divided into privacy-related factors in the general context, privacy-related factors in the personal context, and privacy-related factors in the contextual context. Finally, we examined the effects of consumer privacy concerns on consumer privacy protection behaviors when using content recommendation services.
The results of this study are as follows. First, in using the content recommendation service, it is confirmed that consumers are more concerned about the privacy of consumers according to the context. Among the three levels of concern, the highest concern was in order of concern about data collection ‧ sale ‧ retention, concerns about device and service sharing, and concerns about filter bubble. As a result, as a service provided in online, consumers generally found that information about themselves was collected and stored by others, and that fear of others knowing much about themselves was the highest.
Second, among the concerns that consumers have when using the content recommendation service, concerns about data collection ‧ sale ‧ retention were found to be significant among consumers who have experiences of privacy infringement, consumers with privacy protection awareness, and those with sensitive personalities. This can lead to concerns about having the same experience through experiences where privacy has been breached, and can affect the concern about your data being collected, sold, or retained by the company if you are aware that privacy should be protected. In addition, consumers who have high neuroticism personalities have privacy concern because their data may be misused by the company.
Third, among the concerns that consumers have when using the content recommendation service, concerns about sharing devices and services are positive(+) significance for consumers who have experience of invading privacy, and negative(-) significance for consumers with extravert personalities. People who have experience invading personal information about themselves are bound to fear that sharing their device or service with others will infringe their privacy. When extroverts share their devices and services with others, they know that their views and activities are public, so they don't care much about their tastes and don't worry that this violates their privacy.
Fourth, among the concerns that consumers have when using the content recommendation service, privacy concerns regarding filter bubbles have been shown to be significant in the case of consumers who usually experience privacy infringement or watch a lot of sensitive contents. Consumers who have experienced privacy infringement know that they may return in the wrong direction to them, and they have to worry that the content recommendation service may return to restrict their options. In addition, if consumers who watch a lot of sensitive content, the consumers can be worried about that the content recommendation service identify who they are.
Fifth, the relationship between consumer privacy concerns and consumer privacy protection behavior when using the content recommendation service is as follows. Only privacy concerns regarding device and service sharing and concerns about filter bubbles have a significant effect on protection behavior. When people share a device or service, they often delete their viewers' history, searches, and activities because of the fact that others can see their information. In addition, as the recommendation service is provided based on his / her viewing history or search history, this may limit the content that he / she can watch. And limiting the individual's choice by continuously recommending similar contents.