View article

Personalization is regarded as a de facto concept for developing electronic commerce services. However, personalization involves the personalization paradox: On the one hand, the use of personalization is advocated by the positive aspects it provides for users; on the other hand, the employment of personalization is seen to infringe users' rights in informational privacy, which may result in negative implications for business. Unfortunately, existing research does not offer concrete guidance for developers designing acceptable personalization for electronic commerce services. To fill this gap, this paper first outlines a theoretical framework consisting of two dimensions of acceptability–psychological and moral acceptability–for understanding the fundamental barriers preventing us from solving the personalization paradox. Secondly, a meta-guideline for developing imperatives for particular cases is derived on the basis of the theoretical framework. Thirdly, as an example of the use of the meta-guidelines, a set of imperatives for developing acceptable IS/SW is put forth. Finally, implications for research and practice are presented.