The lack of consumer confidence in information privacy has been identified as a major problem hampering the growth of e-commerce. Despite the importance of understanding the nature of online consumers' concerns for information privacy, this topic has received little attention in the information systems community. To fill the gap in the literature, this article focuses on three distinct, yet closely related, issues. First, drawing on social contract theory, we offer a theoretical framework on the dimensionality of Internet users' information privacy concerns (IUIPC). Second, we attempt to operationalize the multidimensional notion of IUIPC using a second-order construct, and we develop a scale for it. Third, we propose and test a causal model on the relationship between IUIPC and behavioral intention toward releasing personal information at the request of a marketer. We conducted two separate field surveys and collected data from 742 household respondents in one-on-one, face-to-face interviews. The results of this study indicate that the second-order IUIPC factor, which consists of three first-order dimensions--namely, collection, control, and awareness--exhibited desirable psychometric properties in the context of online privacy. In addition, we found that the causal model centering on IUIPC fits the data satisfactorily and explains a large amount of variance in behavioral intention, suggesting that the proposed model will serve as a useful tool for analyzing online consumers' reactions to various privacy threats on the Internet.

Internet Users' Information Privacy Concerns (IUIPC): The Construct, the Scale, and a Causal Model

Despite a decade since the inception of B2C e-commerce, the uncertainty of the online environment still makes many consumers reluctant to engage in online exchange relationships. Even if uncertainty has been widely touted as the primary barrier to online transactions, the literature has viewed uncertainty as a "background" mediator with insufficient conceptualization and measurement. To better understand the nature of uncertainty and mitigate its potentially harmful effects on B2C e-commerce adoption (especially for important purchases), this study draws upon and extends the principal-agent perspective to identify and propose a set of four antecedents of perceived uncertainty in online buyer seller relationship superceived information asymmetry, fears of seller opportunism, information privacy concerns, and information security concerns which are drawn from the agency problems of adverse selection (hidden information) and moral hazard (hidden action).

To mitigate uncertainty in online exchange relationships, this study builds upon the principal agent perspective to propose a set of four uncertainty mitigating factor-trust, website informativeness, product diagnosticity, and social presence-that facilitate online exchange relationships by overcoming the agency problems of hidden information and hidden action through the logic of signals and incentives.

The proposed structural model is empirically tested with longitudinal data from 521 consumers for two products (prescription drugs and books) that differ on their level of purchase involvement. The results support our model, delineating the process by which buyers engage in online exchange relationships by mitigating uncertainty. Interestingly, the proposed model is validated for two distinct targets, a specific website and a class of websites.

Implications for understanding and facilitating online exchange relationships for different types of purchases, mitigating uncertainty perceptions, and extending the principal-agent perspective are discussed.

https://mail.tku.edu.tw/myday/teaching/992/sec/s/992sec_t5_paper_20100415_understanding and mitigating uncertainty in online exchange relationships.pdf

Understanding and mitigating uncertainty in online exchange relationships: a principal- agent perspective

Information privacy has been called one of the most important ethical issues of the informa1 Alien Lee was the accepting senior for this paper. tion age. Public opinion polls show rising levels of concer about privacy among Americans. Against this backdrop, research into issues associated with information privacy is increasing. Based on a number of preliminary studies, it has become apparent that organizational practices, individuals' perceptions of these practices, and societal responses are inextricably linked in many ways. Theories regarding these relationships are slowly emerging. Unfortunately, researchers attempting to examine such relationships through confirmatory empirical approaches may be impeded by the lack of validated instruments for measuring individuals' concerns about organizational information privacy practices. To enable future studies in the information privacy research stream, we developed and validated an instrument that identifies and measures the primary dimensions of individuals' concers about organizational information privacy practices. The development process included examinations of privacy literature; experience surveys and focus groups; and the use of expert judges. The result was a parsimonious 15-item instrument with four subscales tapping into dimensions of individuals' concerns about organizational information privacy practices. The instrument was rigorously tested and validated across several heterogenous populations, providing a high degree of confidence in the scales' validity, reliability, and generalizability.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/249477.pdf

Information privacy: measuring individuals' concerns about organizational practices

While privacy is a highly cherished value, few would argue with the notion that absolute privacy is unattainable. Individuals make choices in which they surrender a certain degree of privacy in exchange for outcomes that are perceived to be worth the risk of information disclosure. This research attempts to better understand the delicate balance between privacy risk beliefs and confidence and enticement beliefs that influence the intention to provide personal information necessary to conduct transactions on the Internet. A theoretical model that incorporated contrary factors representing elements of a privacy calculus was tested using data gathered from 369 respondents. Structural equations modeling (SEM) using LISREL validated the instrument and the proposed model. The results suggest that although Internet privacy concerns inhibit e-commerce transactions, the cumulative influence of Internet trust and personal Internet interest are important factors that can outweigh privacy risk perceptions in the decision to disclose personal information when an individual uses the Internet. These findings provide empirical support for an extended privacy calculus model.

An Extended Privacy Calculus Model for E-Commerce Transactions

To date, many important threads of information privacy research have developed, but these threads have not been woven together into a cohesive fabric. This paper provides an interdisciplinary review of privacy-related research in order to enable a more cohesive treatment. With a sample of 320 privacy articles and 128 books and book sections, we classify previous literature in two ways: (1) using an ethics-based nomenclature of normative, purely descriptive, and empirically descriptive, and (2) based on their level of analysis: individual, group, organizational, and societal.

Based upon our analyses via these two classification approaches, we identify three major areas in which previous research contributions reside: the conceptualization of information privacy, the relationship between information privacy and other constructs, and the contextual nature of these relationships.

As we consider these major areas, we draw three overarching conclusions. First, there are many theoretical developments in the body of normative and purely descriptive studies that have not been addressed in empirical research on privacy. Rigorous studies that either trace processes associated with, or test implied assertions from, these value-laden arguments could add great value. Second, some of the levels of analysis have received less attention in certain contexts than have others in the research to date. Future empirical studies-both positivist and interpretive--could profitably be targeted to these under-researched levels of analysis. Third, positivist empirical studies will add the greatest value if they focus on antecedents to privacy concerns and on actual outcomes. In that light, we recommend that researchers be alert to an overarching macro model that we term APCO (Antecedents → Privacy Concerns → Outcomes).

/pdf/information-privacy-research-an-interdisciplinary-review-3ozmykcimw.pdf

John Leubsdorf

Papers

Privacy and Freedom