Utilizing the components of the protection motivation theory, this study investigated the role of close others’ diagnosis of COVID-19 (as a vicarious experience) in individuals’ adherence to ...protective behavior against COVID-19. Path analysis of online survey data from 3695 participants showed that the presence of a diagnosed close other was positively related to perceived vulnerability, while being negatively related to perceived response efficacy and self-efficacy. In addition, perceived severity and efficacy appraisals were positively associated with protective behavioral tendencies. Although efficacy appraisal mediated the relationship between vicarious experience and protective behavior, threat appraisal did not mediate this relationship. In sum, the results suggest that efficacy appraisal derived from vicarious experiences can be more consequential for protective behaviors than threat appraisal. Implications of these results on future large-scale health crises are discussed along with limitations and future directions.
Privacy has been identified as a hot button issue in literature on Social Network Sites (SNSs). While considerable research has been conducted with teenagers and young adults, scant attention has ...been paid to differences among adult age groups regarding privacy management behavior. With a multidimensional approach to privacy attitudes, we investigate Facebook use, privacy attitudes, online privacy literacy, disclosure, and privacy protective behavior on Facebook across three adult age groups (18-40, 41-65, and 65+). The sample consisted of an online convenience sample of 518 adult Facebook users. Comparisons suggested that although age groups were comparable in terms of general Internet use and online privacy literacy, younger groups were more likely to use SNSs more frequently, use Facebook for social interaction purposes, and have larger networks. Also, younger adults were more likely to self-disclose and engage in privacy protective behaviors on Facebook. In terms of privacy attitudes, older age groups were more likely to be concerned about privacy of other individuals. In general, all dimensions of privacy attitudes (i.e., belief that privacy is a right, being concerned about one’s privacy, belief that one’s privacy is contingent on others, being concerned about protecting privacy of others) were positively correlated with engagement in privacy protective behavior on Facebook. A mediation model demonstrated that amount of disclosure mediated the relationship between age groups and privacy protective behavior on Facebook. Finally, ANCOVA suggested that the impact of privacy attitudes on privacy protective behavior was stronger among mature adults. Also, unlike older age groups, among young adults, considering privacy as a right or being concerned about privacy of other individuals had no impact on privacy protective behavior.
This study examines the impact of role-based constraints on privacy cynicism within higher education, a workplace increasingly subjected to surveillance. Using a thematic analysis of 15 in-depth ...interviews conducted between 2017 and 2023 with data stewards in the California State University System, the research explores the reasons behind data stewards’ privacy cynicism, despite their knowledge of privacy and their own ability to protect it. We investigate how academic data custodians navigate four role-based tensions: the conflict between the institutional and personal definitions of privacy; the mutual reinforcement between their privacy-cynical attitudes and their perceptions of student privacy attitudes; the influence of role constraints on data stewards’ privacy-protective behaviors; and the contrast between the negatively valued societal surveillance and the positively valued university surveillance. The findings underscore the significance of considering organizational privacy cultures and role-based expectations in studying privacy cynicism. The study contributes to the theoretical understanding of privacy cynicism and offers practical implications for organizations, emphasizing the importance of aligning organizational definitions of privacy with employees’ understanding. Future research should further explore the mutual reinforcement of privacy cynicism in the relationship between data providers and data consumers (which we call the “spiral of resignation”) and consider the impact of role-based constraints in other organizational contexts.
Social network sites (SNSs) provide users with ample opportunity to share information about themselves and to engage in social browsing to learn about others. This article reports results from two ...experiments (with participants from the U.S.) that investigate the impacts of breadth and depth of information disclosed in a profile on viewers’ attributional confidence about and interpersonal attraction to the profile owner. In the first experiment (n = 320), participants viewed a profile containing either low or high breadth of information. Analyses indicated that, higher breadth of information shared in the profile increased interpersonal attraction and that attributional confidence mediated this relationship. The second experiment (n = 537) tested the respective influences of breadth (low vs. high) and depth of disclosure (low vs. high) in a profile on perceivers’ attributional confidence and interpersonal attraction. Analyses indicated that, while increasing the breadth of information had a positive impact on interpersonal attraction to profile owners, increasing the depth of information reduced attraction. Additionally, there was a significant interaction between breadth and depth of information in predicting attributional confidence; increasing the depth of information shared in an SNS profile enhanced attributional confidence only when the breadth of information shared was low.
Rational models of privacy self-management such as privacy calculus assume that sharing personal information online can be explained by individuals’ perceptions of risks and benefits. Previous ...research tested this assumption by conducting conventional multivariate procedures, including path analysis or structural equation modeling. However, these analytical approaches cannot account for the potential conjoint effects of risk and benefit perceptions. In this paper, we use a novel analytical approach called polynomial regressions with response surface analysis (RSA) to investigate potential non-linear and conjoint effects based on three data sets (N1 = 344, N2 = 561, N3 = 1.131). In all three datasets, we find that people self-disclose more when gratifications exceed concerns. In two datasets, we also find that self-disclosure increases when both risk and benefit perceptions are on higher rather than lower levels, suggesting that gratifications play an important role in determining whether and how risk considerations will factor into the decision to disclose information.
Based on role congruity theory, we investigated how gender bias may influence public attitudes toward the vaccine in Turkey. Using a between-subjects design, we tested whether an emphasis on the ...female versus the male scientist as the vaccine’s inventor in a news story influenced attitudes about the BioNTech vaccine and vaccination intentions. Partly confirming role congruity theory, three-way interaction results from 665 participants demonstrated that among male participants with a stronger belief in traditional gender roles (compared to males with lower belief), the presence of the female inventor, either by herself or together with the male inventor, decreased the perceived efficacy and safety of the vaccine and reduced intentions to be vaccinated by the BioNTech vaccine. We did not observe such differences for women. These findings highlight how gender bias may influence individuals’ information processing and decision making in a way that may have negative consequences for public health.
This article looks at how the logic of big data analytics, which promotes an aura of unchallenged objectivity to the algorithmic analysis of quantitative data, preempts individuals’ ability to ...self-define and closes off any opportunity for those inferences to be challenged or resisted. We argue that the predominant privacy protection regimes based on the privacy self-management framework of “notice and choice” not only fail to protect individual privacy, but also underplay privacy as a collective good. To illustrate this claim, we discuss how two possible individual strategies—withdrawal from the market (avoidance) and complete reliance on market-provided privacy protections (assimilation)—may result in less privacy options available to the society at large. We conclude by discussing how acknowledging the collective dimension of privacy could provide more meaningful alternatives for privacy protection.
This volume presents the proceedings of the bidt "Vectors of Data Disclosure" conference held in Munich 2022. The contributions give interdisciplinary and comparative insights into various factors of ...data disclosure decisions – combining perspectives of law, cultural studies, and business information systems. The volume also condenses results of the corresponding bidt research project on "Vectors of Data Disclosure".
This meta‐analysis investigates privacy concerns and literacy as predictors of use of online services and social network sites (SNSs), sharing information, and adoption of privacy protective ...measures. A total of 166 studies from 34 countries (n = 75,269) were included in the analysis. In line with the premise of privacy paradox, privacy concerns did not predict SNS use. However, users concerned about privacy were less likely to use online services and share information and were more likely to utilize privacy protective measures. Except for information sharing, the relationships were comparable for intentions and behavior. Analyses also confirm the role that privacy literacy plays in enhancing use of privacy protective measures. The findings can be generalized across gender, cultural orientation, and national legal systems.
•We found four distinct dimensions of privacy attitudes.•User segments are privacy advocates, privacy individualists, privacy indifferents.•Users who value others’ privacy are less likely to invade ...informational privacy.•Privacy individualists use social network sites for satisfying voyeuristic curiosity.•Reciprocating disclosure is more likely for advocates than for individualists.
This study summarizes the development and validation of a multidimensional privacy orientation scale designed for measuring privacy attitudes of Social Network Site (SNS) users. Findings confirm the existence of four dimensions: (1) belief in the value of “privacy as a right”; (2) “other-contingent privacy”; (3) “concern about own informational privacy” and (4) “concern about privacy of others.” Moreover, a segmentation of SNS users based on these attitude scores reveals three types of users: (1) privacy advocates, who are concerned about both their own and other people’s privacy; (2) privacy individualists, who are concerned mostly about their own privacy, and (3) privacy indifferents, whose score on all dimensions are lower than other segments. The results indicate that the four privacy orientation dimensions and three user segments predict key differences in terms of privacy protective behavior, information disclosure, and viewing personal information of others.
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