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Christian Fuentes.

Christian Fuentes

Professor

Christian Fuentes.

How sociotechnical imaginaries shape consumers’ experiences of and responses to commercial data collection practices

Author

  • Niklas Sörum
  • Christian Fuentes

Summary, in English

How is the ongoing “datafication” in society experienced by consumers? Critical discussions regarding the impact of datafication on consumers seldom study consumers’ actual experiences. Conversely, the studies that do exist of consumers and their experiences of datafication tend to take an individualistic approach, arguing that how consumers experience and respond to the ongoing datafication is the result of their individual psychological make-up or the result of processes of cost–benefit calculations. Against that background, this article will instead show that the ways in which consumers experience and respond to datafication is linked to a number of broader sociotechnical imaginaries. Based on in-depth user interviews and drawing on previous work on sociotechnical imaginaries, this article develops an analysis of consumers’ multiple imaginaries of data collection practices. Findings show that how consumers approach data collection operations is shaped by sociotechnical imaginaries that were both individually and collectively performed by consumers interacting with and using datacollecting devices.

Department/s

  • Department of Service Studies

Publishing year

2023

Language

English

Pages

24-46

Publication/Series

Consumption Markets and Culture

Volume

26

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Topic

  • Business Administration
  • Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Status

Published

Project

  • Consuming digital data: commercial, productive and critical implications
  • Service Studies Consumption

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1025-3866