Applying text-mining to personalization and customization research literature – Who, what and where?

Personalization and customization have numerous definitions that are sometimes used interchangeably in the literature. This study combines a text-mining approach for profiling personalization and customization research with a traditional literature review in order to distinguish the main characteristics of these two research streams. Research profiling with search words personalization and customization is conducted using the Web of Science literature database. The elements typical to the personalization and customization research are identified. Personalization research has a strong focus on technology and the internet; in addition to which it emphasizes customers’ needs and preferences as well as information collection for user modeling and recommender systems. Customization is an older research stream, and the main body of the research has focused on tangible products but has lately initiated research in service fields. Based on the insights gained from research profiling and literature review, this study suggests a new classification of concepts linked to personalization.