Decoding the Personalization-Privacy Paradox: From Thematic Scholarly Clusters to Practical Insights

In today’s digital era, the rise of data-driven personalization has made the tension between relevance and privacy a central issue for businesses: while personalization has become a (source of) competitive advantage, growing privacy concerns pose a competitive threat. Despite rising academic interest, research on the personalization-privacy paradox remains fragmented across disciplines and lacks practical integration. This study aims to decode the paradox by systematically analyzing and synthesizing 1037 articles (2015–2024) from WoS database, to advance the theoretical integration within the field, and to inform practitioners on how to navigate (data-driven) personalization strategies responsibly and effectively. Using bibliometric and co-occurrence of author keywords analysis (via VOSviewer) it identified nine thematic clusters (connected by trust as a central, mediating construct); among them, AI and humanization in personalization, Algorithms and platform dynamics, and Behavioral responses to privacy trade-offs emerged as promising areas for future research. The synthesis led to four research streams: Consumer insight and decision making, Technology enabled customer experience, Strategic personalization and relationship marketing, and Data strategy, ethics and regulation. Each stream addresses a different facet of the personalization-privacy paradox while collectively they form a comprehensive framework for understanding how businesses create, deliver, and manage value in a data-driven digital economy – while navigating trust, technology, and regulation.