Attention Vulnerability Online: A Novel Framework to Understand Consumer Vulnerability in Online Environments

Online environments provide unmatched convenience for consumers. However, they simultaneously expose consumers to tailor-made environments capable of capturing and steering their attention, which can lead them towards making suboptimal decisions. By integrating findings from vision science and marketing, we propose the novel concept of 'Attention Vulnerability Online' (AVO), representing a state in which consumers have reduced control over their attentional resources, putting them at risk of making suboptimal decisions. We argue that technological advancements, such as generative AI and machine learning, enable businesses to display visual attention drivers that, when combined with detailed knowledge about individual consumers, can direct consumers’ attentional resources toward specific online stimuli, thus rendering consumers vulnerable. We also examine the impact of key moderating factors that can exacerbate AVO - consumer-specific and situational characteristics that shape our attention. Our contributions are threefold: we provide a novel conceptual framework on AVO that connects vision science with consumer vulnerability, explaining when consumers are at risk of making suboptimal decisions in online environments; we identify areas warranting further investigation related to AVO; and we offer policy recommendations to ensure ethical online marketing practices.