PRIVACY IN ONLINE ENVIRONMENTS

In my main area of research I examine the potential conflict between the demand by companies for personal data and the desire of individuals to seek protection for this personal data.

Consumer profiling & loss of privacy

This is related to the concern regarding loss of privacy, which has been identified as “a huge and unresolved issue on the Internet” (Tapscott 2009, p. 295) and “perhaps the most obvious shadow side of technological cooperation systems” (Rheingold 2002, p. xxi).

This suggests that the convergence of technological and social networks demands further discussion of how personal data is managed and, ultimately, controlled and by who. I am currently investigating the potential for a profiling system managed by individual consumers with a view to allowing role-specific privacy. This challenges the accepted notion of organisations being the sole managers of data about individuals.

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STUDYING SERVICE SATISFACTION

The term “services” is frequently used to refer to immaterial units of output, i.e. output that is not classified as “goods”. This perspective was recently challenged by Vargo and Lusch (2008) who advocate the term “service” to refer to “the application of specialized competences […], through deeds, processes, and performances for the benefit of another entity or the entity itself” (p. 26).

Besides overturning the dichotomy of two alternative forms of products, the perspective also suggests that service is the norm in buyer-seller interactions. As a result, service is always exchanged and goods, if required, aid the process of service provision.

My personal interest in this discussion is the question how consumers respond to the service they receive. I am therefore participating in research studies that investigate the satisfaction of consumers in different service contexts, such as “complaint satisfaction” or the satisfaction of students.

ONLINE RESEARCH METHODS

I endorse the philosophy of (American) pragmatism that is characterised by a “skeptical anti-authoritarian stance towards all claims for knowledge save those that demonstrate the utility of knowledge in advancing ‘human happiness’” (Johnson and Duberley 2000, pp. 157-58). Similar to critical theory, pragmatism provides an account of social adjustment, albeit I believe a less ‘dogmatic’ one.

William James (1907) introduces pragmatism metaphorically as “a corridor in a hotel [that] lies in the midst of our theories” (pp. 21-22), which indicates that pragmatism is not just compatible with a variety of research methods, but also allows for a multi-method approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods (Waschkuhn 2001).

Over recent years, I have participated in research studies that necessitate the adaptation of existing methods to the requirements of the online world. Examples are the Kano model of customer satisfaction and especially the Laddering data collection method “that takes consumers’ individuality seriously, but […] comes up with quantitative results” (Grunert, Beckmann and Sørensen 2001, p. 64).

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BUSINESS HISTORY

In addition to my main research interests, I have a passion for business history in general and the developments that led to the computer- and the video-games industries in particular. Beside these two industries, I am also following the history (and sometimes the present) of those companies that I believe warrant the label of being a “special case” in their respective industries.

Related to this are the sometimes dazzling, but always unique characters that have founded some of these companies. From the original “railroad barons” of 19th century America to the people that defined the computer industry in the second half of the twentieth century, as well as the “dot-com” entrepreneurs of recent years, I believe that much can be learned about these industries by understanding the unique backgrounds of their founders.

Photo: "Xerox Alto" by Marcin Wichary. Some rights reserved. Flickr.