In 2015 the Which? Consumer Insight Team carried out a review into how consumers make decisions about privacy. This included consideration of how behavioural research could provide further insights into consumer decision-making about privacy.
The review demonstrated that decision-making regarding information privacy is a hugely complex area. In particular, it found that consumer attitudes and behaviours towards privacy often do not correlate. Despite high levels of concern about privacy risks, consumers often give up their privacy for relatively low-level rewards. Consumer decisions around privacy are inconsistent and therefore difficult to predict.
Changing consumer behaviour in this area is therefore a significant challenge and even well designed interventions may only have a limited effect. Other solutions, such as ensuring that businesses treat their customers fairly and do not exploit the biases inherent in consumer decision-making, should also be central to any recommendations for tackling nuisance calls and texts.
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