Correspondence: Pamela L. Alreck, Franklin P. Perdue School of Business Salisbury University Salisbury, MD 21801, USA. Tel: +1 302 436 5580; Fax: +1 302 436 5580; e-Mail: PLAlreck@Salisbury.EDU

¹is a professor of marketing in the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD, USA. She received her Doctorate from the US International University and formerly taught at San Diego State University and Bentley College, Boston. She is author of The Survey Research Handbook, Why They Buy: American Consumers Inside and Out, and numerous academic papers.

²is a professor of marketing in the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business at Salisbury University, Salisbury, MD, USA, and Emeritus Professor of Marketing at San Diego State University. His doctorate is from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is an author of Why They Buy: American Consumers Inside and Out, The Survey Research Handbook, and numerous academic papers.

Received 12 November 2007; Revised 12 November 2007; Published online 10 December 2007.

Abstract

This study measures three aspects of consumer reactions to online behavioural tracking and targeting: (1) What consumers know or believe about online behavioural tracking and targeting and the practices associated with it, (2) the nature of their opinions or evaluations regarding these strategies, and (3) the consumers' online shopping actions or behaviour in view of what they believe and how they feel about online tracking and targeting. The findings indicate a higher level of awareness of tracking and targeting than the existing literature suggests. Reactions to it are largely negative, although not strident. Dislike of tracking and targeting does not appear to have greatly inhibited online browsing or shopping activities.