An Empirical Investigation of the Effects of Individuality on Responses to Data Theft Crimes

E-commerce transactions have been rapidly increasing (over 20% from 2016 to 2017), and thus the number of data thefts has been increasing. Data thefts cause a loss of trust by the customer, but previous research has failed to identify how such events change customer perceptions and also influence future shopping behavior. Our survey of 390 individuals provides insight into how the individuality of the crime victims (targeting of a few named individuals or a large customer database) has strong effects. Specifically, respondents were more likely to blame the breached customers and less likely to blame the business if only a few individuals were targeted. Responses such as blaming the business and possessing a cynical perspective about the thieves and affected customers, along with the individuality of the crime, did have a significant effect on whether customers would choose to revisit the business. However, increased blame on affected customers did not necessarily lead to diminished revisits. We recommend that businesses respond to large database breaches with apologies and blame acceptance, and to small, targeted breaches with an agile mix of apology, blame acceptance, diminishment, and protest.