The market for private security: a review, research agenda, and marketing strategies for a contested terrain

Security is a fundamental human need, and a nascent industry, which surprisingly, has garnered scant attention hitherto in the marketing and services literature. In contemporary society, advanced technologies, social dynamics, and environmental changes have contributed to a growing preoccupation with private security. Inter alia, the rising frequency of cyber alerts has highlighted the sharp divide between the myriad benefits of digital technology and the environmental threats, all of which expose innumerable private security issues in the marketplace. The objective of this conceptual paper is to explore the domain of private security, to map the literature, conceptualize the domain, and point out new research avenues and strategic opportunities in the field of private security marketing. To this end, a systematic literature review was conducted, using automated textual analyses. This procedure, coupled with a facet (meta)theoretical approach, revealed major elements for conceptualizing the marketing aspects of private security. The results showed that marketing science and private security offer abundant opportunities for research applications on the interface. Indeed, the identified facets and their corresponding elements provided a mapping sentence as a roadmap for future research and strategic applications.