The Impact of an Incentive on Customers’ Information Disclosure at the Physical Point of Sale
(A2020-62033)

AUTHORS

Tobias Roeding, University of Siegen; Sascha Steinmann, University of Siegen; Hanna Schramm-Klein, University of Siegen

KEYWORDS

Information-Disclosure; Incentives; Technological-Assistance

ABSTRACT

The offering of specific incentives enable retailers to gather and use customers’ personal data at the physical point of sale. However, little is known about the potential of customer-incentivisation in combination with technological service-assistance on offline information disclosure. Referring to the Privacy Calculus theory, we investigate customers’ information disclosure regarding a face-to-face interaction with a human frontline employee. We conducted a quasi-experimental online study (N=343). Results indicate a positive influence of an incentive (on data-security; on personalization of future services; on monetary discount), however, the integration of a technological assistance levers this effect. In addition, findings are stating the relevance of privacy concerns towards the frontline employee as a mediator. Our study offers new research perspectives for academe and strategies for practice in order to use incentives and PoS-technologies efficiently for customer-data gathering.