Information Disclosure in the Era of Voice Technology

Johann Melzner, Andrea Bonezzi, Tom Meyvis

Journal of Marketing · 2023 · Volume 87 · Issue 4

Abstract

Whenever consumers interact with technological devices connected to the internet, they disclose information about themselves. The rapid diffusion of voice technology is shifting the way consumers interact with technological devices from typing or clicking to speaking. This article offers a comprehensive analysis of how this shift from manual to oral communication with technology affects information disclosure. The authors first consider verbal disclosure and provide a conceptual framework that explicates how voice technology can influence consumers’ propensity to reveal information about themselves through semantic content disclosed voluntarily. They then consider nonverbal disclosure and provide an analysis of how voice technology enables the collection of information revealed unintentionally through vocal paralanguage and ambient sound. The article offers testable propositions and poses open research questions that can serve as impetus for future research. In addition, it provides insights to marketers regarding how to navigate voice technology as a source of consumer information and to policy makers regarding how to better protect consumer privacy in interactions with voice technology.

Keywords

communication modality, disclosure, information, voice technology, privacy

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