Hedonic Consumers’ Privacy in Online Shopping: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The article aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the extant literature on online hedonic consumers’ privacy. Further, the authors attempt to identify a gap in online hedonic consumer behaviour focusing on their privacy. The authors systematically reviewed the extant literature on online hedonic consumers and their various privacy-related issues. The discussion on ‘privacy’, ‘online shopping’, ‘hedonic consumption’ and ‘hedonic-motivation system (HMS)’ elucidated any confusion held by the researchers and readers. This review offered insight into the current status of research in this field and recognized the factor ‘privacy’ as a gap in the existing model of online hedonic consumer behaviour that could be properly explored in further scholarly empirical research. The exclusion of non-English language articles and the lack of inclusion of different kinds of hedonic products or services other than ‘online shopping’ were the limitations of this article. Managers and e-commerce vendors could utilize the findings of this review to address their hedonic consumers’ privacy for the growth of their online businesses. This review lays the groundwork to explore online hedonic consumers’ privacy in detail. To address the gaps identified through this study, the development of a new overarching model of online hedonic consumer behaviour is suggested for future researchers, which might provide a theoretical framework for scholars to further examine the effect of privacy on online hedonic consumers.