Ethical Considerations of AR Applications in Smartphones; A Systematic Literature Review of Consumer Perspectives

This study focuses on the ethical considerations that a consumer perceives with augmented reality (AR) in the context of smartphone applications. Through a systematic review, this research can provide an understanding and ability for developers, product managers, digital marketers and associated business professionals to effectively implement and deploy mobile AR related applications and campaigns, with consideration to the perceptions of the ethical considerations that consumers have of this growing technology. The rise in digital transformation and new technologies paved this research agenda. Trends in the data revealed two overarching factors of 'Benefits' and 'Ethical Considerations'. Within these two factors, several consumer perceived themes were identified with regards to AR applications and their association categorised either positive, negative or neutral. 'Benefits' revealed 3 consistent themes of personalisation, interactivity and information acquisition. 'Ethical Considerations' revealed consistent patterns of educational awareness, privacy, transparency and security. From identifying the consumer perceptions, business professionals can strategically address and or challenge the inherent limitations and their associations during AR application development, product adoption strategies or marketing purposes.