Date: 10 April 2026, Friday
Time: 16.30 – 17.30
Place: MA-330
“Consumer Attention to Data Disclosure: Evidence from Mobile Apps“
by
Kelly D. Martin
Colorado State University
Abstract
The mobile apps that mediate everyday activities make data disclosures a routine part of people’s lives, but in fragmented prior research, the privacy threats associated with data disclosures dominate. To compliment such perspectives, the current research proposes a novel conceptualization that reflects how consumers respond when transparency policies make data disclosure practices salient. A large-scale, natural field experiment involving more than 700,000 app reviews, surrounding the introduction of Apple’s Privacy Nutrition Labels, reveals a negative relative effect of transparency on consumer attention to data disclosures.
Yet as these labels diffused, and transparency became a platform standard, consumers seemed to attend specifically to data disclosures by apps that were very late in adopting the labels. In contrast with prior evidence, the overall sentiment in data disclosure reviews remains largely positive. To clarify these findings, two controlled experiments systematically vary the timing of transparency efforts and the appropriateness of the data disclosures. The experimental evidence reveals that consumer reactions depend jointly on whether transparency occurs when expected and if the disclosed data practices align with contextual expectations. Thus, consumer responses to data disclosures are shaped by their timing and appropriateness, not just the simple existence of data disclosures.
Bio
Kelly D. Martin is Tinberg “Business for a Better World” University Professor and Professor of Marketing at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Her research interests converge at the marketing and society interface, especially in the realms of customer data privacy, political marketing strategy, and the firm’s approach to creating customer well-being. Her work has appeared in journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Consumer Research, Academy of Management Journal, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, among other academic journals. She is author of the book, The Intelligent Marketer’s Guide to Data Privacy, which was the recipient of the 2021 AMA Leonard L. Berry Marketing Book Award and has enjoyed global reach and use within privacy-forward companies such as Microsoft.
Dr. Martin’s work on data privacy has been highlighted in Nature, the Economist, New York Times, and Harvard Business Review. Her articles on data privacy have been recognized for research impact as recipients of the Sheth/Journal of Marketing Long-Term Contribution Award, the Marketing Science Institute/Robert D. Buzzell Best Paper Award, and the Davidson/Journal of Retailing Best Article Award. Her 2017 and 2022 review articles on data privacy in marketing were both finalists for the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science/Sheth Award and are some of the top-most cited marketing articles on data privacy, according to ScholarGPS.
Dr. Martin’s served as joint Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing from 2020 to 2023 and held a Government Relations Faculty Ambassadorship for Colorado State University, based on her policy work on privacy, from 2022-2024. She holds a Mercator Fellowship from the Center for Digital Platform Ecosystems at the University of Passau in Germany, where she has extensive international research collaborations in the areas of consumer privacy, data disclosure, and technology and identity. She also holds an Extraordinary Professorship from the School of Management Sciences at North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa.