Customization, information provision and choice: what are we willing to give up for personal service?

Consumers are being increasingly asked to provide personal information in exchange for individually tailored product/service offerings. If there are discrepancies between the personal information disclosed (quality and completeness) and the actual profile of the individual, the resulting customized offer will not match the expected offer. The paper uses several theories to develop a framework to understand the disclosure/customization process and the valuation of information. Self-concept theory suggests that an individual’s self-perception influences his/her behavior and attitudes regarding a variety of issues including how and what personal information is provided. Attribution theory can be used to explain how customization successes and failures may be perceived by the consumer, in light of information incompleteness and/or inaccuracy of disclosure. An application of the framework is illustrated with an example of an online dating service.