Online Behavioral Advertising: A Literature Review and Research Agenda

2017-06-29

AI Summary

Online behavioral advertising (OBA) suffers from conceptual ambiguity and fragmented empirical evidence, hindering theoretical advancement and practical guidance. Method: Through a systematic literature review and interdisciplinary theoretical integration, this study develops the first precise definition of OBA and a unified theoretical framework that jointly models advertiser-controllable variables (e.g., data transparency, personalization intensity) and consumer-level characteristics (e.g., privacy concern, digital literacy). Contribution/Results: The study maps the distribution of existing empirical findings and identifies three critical research gaps: (1) mechanistic black boxes, (2) contextual boundary conditions, and (3) cross-cultural variations. It proposes empirically testable future research directions and policy design principles that balance advertising efficacy with privacy protection. This work provides an integrative scholarly foundation for advancing OBA theory, optimizing precision advertising practices, and informing data governance policy.

Technology Category

• Search and Optimization: Other Foundations of Search & Optimization
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Adversarial Learning

Application Category

• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: User modeling for targeted and personalized online advertising
• Security and Privacy: Data transparency and provenance
• Responsible Web: Algorithmic accountability and transparency on the web

Abstract

Advertisers are increasingly monitoring people's online behavior and using the information collected to show people individually targeted advertisements. This phenomenon is called online behavioral advertising (OBA). Although advertisers can benefit from OBA, the practice also raises concerns about privacy. Therefore, OBA has received much attention from advertisers, consumers, policymakers, and scholars. Despite this attention, there is neither a strong definition of OBA nor a clear accumulation of empirical findings. This article defines OBA and provides an overview of the empirical findings by developing a framework that identifies and integrates all factors that can explain consumer responses toward OBA. The framework suggests that the outcomes of OBA are dependent on advertiser-controlled factors (e.g., the level of personalization) and consumer-controlled factors (e.g., knowledge and perceptions about OBA and individual characteristics). The article also overviews the theoretical positioning of OBA by placing the theories that are used to explain consumers’ responses to OBA in our framework. Finally, we develop a research agenda and discuss implications for policymakers and advertisers.

Problem

• Defining online behavioral advertising and its empirical findings
• Explaining consumer responses through advertiser and consumer factors
• Developing research agenda and implications for stakeholders

Innovation

• Defines online behavioral advertising framework
• Integrates advertiser and consumer controlled factors
• Develops research agenda for policymakers and advertisers