Antecedents of the Quality of Online Customer Information

When the concept of Customer Relationship Management emerged in the 1990s, the need for high quality data became of paramount importance in order to adequately address customers. Individualization strategies were developed to improve relationships with existing customers and therefore generate more revenue. In order to fine-tune those strategies, demographic as well as psychographic information and previous buying behavior may be used. However, a lot of resistance against providing personal information on the side of the customers exists, which is evidenced by consciously supplied false information. This paper analyzes some important constructs which can be seen as antecedents for the provision of correct personal data. A research framework is developed and empirically tested with an online survey. The results indicate that the benefits from individualized communication, trust in the secure data submission over the Internet and the degree of information available to customers as to how companies treat personal data, significantly influence users' attitudes toward providing correct information.