The Pandemic-Induced Personal Data Explosion

Abstract

Government and private responses to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the generation and dissemination of personal data not previously available in the public sphere. This “Notes from the Field” paper reflects on the implications of this surge of new data for the study and practice of social marketing. The paper examines how this phenomenon impacts on the following aspects of social marketing: (1) Setting of explicit social goals; (2) citizen orientation and focus; (3) value proposition delivery via the social marketing intervention mix; (4) theory-, insight-, data-, and evidence-informed audience segmentation; (5) competition/barrier and asset analysis; and (6) critical thinking, reflexivity, and being ethical. The paper investigates the research question "How are the government and private responses to the pandemic shaping the generation and use of personal data, and what are the implications of this eruption of data for the social marketing scholarly community?" We draw on the Core Social Marketing Concepts framework to explore how the aforementioned data explosion impacts on the six dimensions of this central framework. We find that the data explosion creates conflicting social marketing goals, and that inequalities in access to digital technology are increasingly impacting what voices are heard, and which concerns are prioritized. Moreover, new innovations may be enabled or needed, leading to the improvement of firms’ ability to create value for individual citizens; the creation of new datasets—particularly among demographics that previously had a limited digital footprint—enhances the ability to segment markets and target social marketing activities. Furthermore, the pandemic-induced data explosion may lead to the identification of additional barriers to positive social behaviors that have emerged, diminished, or even disappeared during the pandemic; but researchers need to critically examine the consequences of the government and private behaviors at the macro, meso, and micro levels. We propose a research agenda for the social marketing community, consisting of 21 research questions. Our analysis focuses on the behavior of government and citizens in North America and Western Europe.

Turning the invisible into the visible: exploring consumers’ perceptions towards sustainable water consumption

“…From a consumer behaviour perspective, the water footprint might act as a useful and additional tool, incorporated within the digital elements of multi-channel social marketing campaigns, seeking to encourage limited/sustainable water consumption during dry summer months and heatwave periods, as well as throughout the year. As it has been recently argued (Canhoto and Brough, 2022), the explosion and ethical use of digital personal data bring forward opportunities for social marketing scholars and practitioners, interested in the changing behaviours and perceptions of citizens towards contemporary challenges. Although social marketing campaigns to increase the choice of low-carbon footprint have been tested (Malan et al , 2022), more research can be conducted on the potential impact of the water footprint in prompting citizens towards sustainable water consumption.…”

“…The interviews were semi-structured and the researcher started by asking open and general questions to induce dialogues related to participants' experiences with water consumption, sustainability and water scarcity (Bryman and Bell, 2011). Subsequently, the interviewer encouraged participants to elaborate on their everyday water consumption habits, providing more focus and structure to the process.…”

“…Adopting an interpretive consumer research perspective (Szmigin and Foxall, 2000;Cova and Elliott, 2008), the methodology sought to cultivate an openness to the phenomena and participants' viewpoints, to be receptive to the behaviours and meanings stemming from sustainable water consumption. Considering the exploratory nature of the study, and aiming QMR 27,1 to provide an in-depth exploration of consumers' views and perceptions of the phenomenon under investigation, a qualitative methodological framework was adopted (Bryman and Bell, 2011). Following the central research objective, the method of qualitative in-depth interviewing (Stokes and Bergin, 2006) was considered the most appropriate technique to establish rapport with participants, probe into their perceptions and beliefs and generate detailed data about sustainable water consumption in the UK.…”

“…The researcher created a set of initial codes and subsequently, a codebook emerged via the systematic and meticulous organisation of similar meanings and themes. Gradually, the codes were clustered within the key themes which were carefully revised and consistently reviewed to strengthen the accurate interpretation of the data and accordingly the reliability and consistency of the study (Bryman and Bell, 2011).…”