Information Technology Reference
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suspicion is relatively low, however, other factors,
such as personal attributes (Dowling & Staelin,
1994) and specific experiences may also need also
to be considered in future research as additional
triggers of perceived risk.
The extent of end users' privacy suspicious
attitudes was positively related to their online
privacy active behavior and suggests that a cogni-
tive appraisal such as suspicion that often leads to
fear-based emotions can have positive outcomes
in terms of self protective behaviors online. End
users may also have experienced the negative emo-
tion of embarrassment, consistent with Grace's
(2007) recent research. No direct relationship
will be found between privacy awareness and
online privacy active behavior consistent with
the privacy hierarchy of effects.
A notable finding was that privacy active
behavior which was hypothesised to increase the
likelihood of online subscription and purchasing
was not found to be significant. Similar findings
were recently reported by Sykes et al. (2006) who
found that consumer concern for information pri-
vacy did not directly affect willingness to transact
online. It is also consistent with Donmeyer and
Gross (2003) who found that those who took ac-
tion to protect their privacy were also less likely
to subscribe and purchase online. It seems that
expert household end users feel that any privacy
active behaviors that they undertake may be
necessary but not sufficient to lead them to be
more likely to engage in online subscription and
purchasing. This is a possible explanation for the
previous finding of Miyazaki and Fernandez's
(2001) research on consumers.
Consistent with Sykes (2006) we identified
the key role of perceived risk in online privacy
and online behavior. In our study, perceived risk
was heightened by privacy suspicion but no direct
effect was identified between privacy awareness
and risk. This finding indicates that there may
be some threshold level that must be achieved
in the privacy hierarchy of effects before risk
is perceived. Perceived risk was itself found to
increase levels of privacy active behavior and
decrease online subscription and purchasing
behavior. Thus, it appears that it is not sufficient
to consider privacy concerns alone but rather the
inter-relationship between privacy concerns and
perceived risk if we are to understand the driv-
ers of online subscription and purchasing for the
expert online household end user.
The results of this study show that the task of
building online confidence in terms of privacy
issues is a complex one. The results indicating
that action by users to protect privacy do not
positively impact on online and purchase behavior
suggests that expert online household end users
may feel that, at this stage, the options available
to protect their privacy are not sufficient. This
implies that companies may need to provide more
effective privacy protective options to all online
users. It is also possible that governments may
need to legislate more effectively in this area
and make available legal recourse to assist and
protect end users.
This research has advanced our understanding
of e-privacy by putting forward a new typology
of expert online household end users' privacy
concerns. The existing typologies (Sheehan, 2002;
Sheehan & Hoy, 2000; Perry 6, 2002) are more
appropriate to the earlier types of technology,
such as e-mail, while our typology is relevant to
more sophisticated uses, such as e-commerce.
Moreover, the existing typologies construct the
end user in a passive role where they only become
aware of privacy issues after a breach has occurred,
for example, when they receive e-mail from an
unknown company. Our research acknowledges
and incorporates a heightened sensitivity to pri-
vacy on the part of the end user resulting from
expertise in the online environment. The previous
studies are also largely descriptive and, unlike our
study, do not conceptualise privacy in a hierar-
chy of effects, nor do they link privacy concerns
specifically to online behaviors.
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