Privacy,trust and control: Which relationships with online self-disclosure?

A number of studies have examined the relationship between privacy concerns, perceived control over information, trust and online self-disclosure, highlighting different points of view to understand this connection. This paper intends to compare these different models of explanation for self-disclosure behaviors in online social networks. Three different hypotheses are verified, using mediation and moderation analyses. The results allow underling the effect of the interaction between privacy concerns and trust on online self-disclosure, along with the absence of a direct influence of privacy concerns on disclosure itself. The results suggest practical implications for online social network providers, most of all with regard to privacy policies in online environments.     

A trust model for online peer-to-peer lending: a lender’s perspective

Online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending is a new but essential financing method for small and micro enterprises that is conducted on the Internet and excludes the involvement of collateral and financial institutions. To tackle the inherent risk of this new financing method, trust must be cultivated. Based on trust theories, the present study develops an integrated trust model specifically for the online P2P lending context, to better understand the critical factors that drive lenders’ trust. The model is empirically tested using surveyed data from 785 online lenders of PPDai, the first and largest online P2P platform in China. The results show that both trust in borrowers and trust in intermediaries are significant factors influencing lenders’ lending intention. However, trust in borrowers is more critical, and not only directly nurtures lenders’ lending intention more efficiently than trust in intermediaries, but also carries the impact of trust in intermediaries on lenders’ lending intention. To develop lenders’ trust, borrowers should provide high-quality information for their loan requests and intermediaries should provide high-quality services and sufficient security protection. The findings provide valuable insights for both borrowers and intermediaries.     

Is the influence of privacy and security on online trust the same for all type of consumers?

This article analyzes the relationships among online trust and two of its most important antecedents, namely privacy and security, and explains how consumers’ characteristics (gender, age, education and extraversion), moderate the influence of both privacy and security in online trust. This study expands previous literature by identifying the conditions under which perceived privacy and security are likely to have the greatest positive effects on consumer trust in the online retailer. Based on data from 398 online consumers, the results revealed that the influence of both privacy and security on online trust was stronger for male, younger, more educated, and less extraverted consumers. Implications for theory and management are discussed.     

大话西游online

《大话西游Online》是根据那两部《大话西游》电影改编的。电影的影响力毋庸质疑,现在常常能听到的“曾经有一份……”这类语式即是佐证。可中国玩家仍不满足,他们期待在游戏世界中“大话西游”,以延续电影《大话西游》带来的疯狂和痴迷,于是有了这国内第一款超大型武侠神怪网络游戏。这款游戏把单人游戏和多人互动同时表现,把角色性、冒险性、故事性等单机RPG的东西融合到多人共建网络世界中,并且拥有浓厚的中国文化特色。游戏讲述的是主角为了“天命”来到这个世界寻找西天取经之人,并历经种种磨难的故事——     

网游online

游戏名称:寒冬游戏平台:PS2开发公司:Swordfish Studios《寒冬》的故事结构是相当直观和紧凑的,在游戏的每一个关卡中玩家都会得到一个核心目标任务,你一步步地向其靠近,干掉阻拦在前方的障碍,当然在每一关卡的最后阶段你将接受最主要目标的考验。除了核心任务外每一关中都会有     

User bias in online trust systems: aligning the system designers’ intentions with the users’ expectations

The advent of social networks opened a myriad opportunities for merging the social character of trust with the technical possibilities offered by the Internet and its availability as a mobile service. While most of the computational trust models aim to detect trustworthy entities, much less attention is paid to how these models are perceived by the users who are the core of the system. This paper delves into the workings of online trust systems under user bias and analyses the user behaviour through biases defined by Prospect theory. By performing empirical study on an existing system, we are able to demonstrate that there is a huge discrepancy between the aim of implementation of the online trust models and the users’ perception of those models. Understanding of this relation by the system designers can reduce complexity and improve the user experience and the system performance. The results imply that the tendency of the users to exhibit cognitive biases is not only the cause, but also the effect from the trust system design. These results and the analysis are then used to propose to the system designers a methodology for user bias identification and mitigation in the form of a Choice architecture for trust systems.     

Understanding online customer repurchasing intention and the mediating role of trust – an empirical investigation in two developed countries

Although e-commerce adoption and customers’ initial purchasing behavior have been well studied in the literature, repeat purchase intention and its antecedents remain understudied. This study proposes a model to understand the extent to which trust mediates the effects of vendor-specific factors on customers’ intention to repurchase from an online vendor. The model was tested and validated in two different country settings. We found that trust fully mediates the relationships between perceived reputation, perceived capability of order fulfillment, and repurchasing intention, and partially mediates the relationship between perceived website quality and repurchasing intention in both countries. Moreover, multi-group analysis reveals no significant between-country differences of the model with regards to the antecedents and outcomes of trust, except the effect of reputation on trust. Academic and practical implications and future research are discussed.     

开天online

《孔雀王》的运营失败并没有让奥美动摇进军网游的决心,近日,奥美已决定运营韩国VanSoft研发的网游——《开天》,不知这款游戏是否能为奥美在网游市场上开出一片新天地? 《开天》的英文名叫Lateinos,这个单词出自《圣经》,它指的是从神明出现到基督降临人世之前的这个时间段,所以在游戏里,玩家将面对一个混沌的世界,这个世界需要有人来开天辟地,在混乱中的世界建立秩序。《开天》是一款采用Enigma引擎的全3D网络游戏,所有场景都是3D即时演算而成,支持360度自由视角,在画面上比较出色,但在细节处理上比《天     

Understanding online customers’ ties to merchants: the moderating influence of trust on the relationship between switching costs and e-loyalty

Fostering customer loyalty is a key objective for online businesses. Initial transactions with new customers are less profitable than transactions with existing customers, making loyalty an important strategy. Drawing on research examining online customer loyalty (termed e-loyalty), switching costs, and trust, this study provides an empirical test of the relative influence of trust vs switching costs on e-loyalty for e-service providers. We further examine whether trust moderates the relationship between switching costs and e-loyalty. We propose that in the presence of high customer trust, e-service providers should have less need to rely on switching costs as a driver of e-loyalty. We test the hypothesized relationships using data collected from 299 repeat users of online travel services. Our results confirm that trust is a more important predictor of e-loyalty than switching costs. In addition, we find that the impact of switching costs on e-loyalty depends on the level of trust felt by customers. This study extends our understanding of customer loyalty, switching costs, and trust in e-commerce environments and provides practical, theory-driven guidelines to e-businesses seeking to develop customer loyalty programmes.     

在线杀毒 东方卫士online

《东方卫士online》是交大铭泰新近推出的一款真正意义上的在线杀毒软件,在国内率先实现了在线杀毒功能。现在,交大铭泰公司为用户提供1个月的免费试用版,让您领略在线杀毒的方便和安全。     

Adolescents' privacy concerns and information disclosure online: The role of parents and the Internet

This study investigated the role of parents and the Internet in adolescents' online privacy concerns and information disclosing behaviors. Specifically, instructive and restrictive parental mediation, adolescents' self-disclosure to parents about their Internet experiences, time spent on the Internet, and participation in online communication activities were examined as factors that may impact adolescents' concerns about online privacy, willingness to disclose personally identifiable information, and actual disclosure of personal information online. A survey conducted in Singapore with 746 adolescents aged 12–18 revealed that instructive parental mediation based on parent-adolescent communication was more effective than restrictive parental mediation based on rule-making and controlling in reducing information disclosure among adolescents. Adolescents' self-disclosure to parents about their Internet experiences was found to be positively associated with their privacy concerns but did not foster privacy protection behaviors. While online chatting had a positive relationship with privacy concerns, excessive use of the Internet and frequent participation in social networking and online gaming resulted in increased information disclosure.     

Online News Production in Flanders: How Flemish Online Journalists Perceive and Explore the Internet''s Potential

This study proposes and tests a model of online information disclosure to commercial Web sites, which is an important component of e-commerce. Based on social exchange theory and research on self-disclosure in interpersonal contexts, the model emphasizes the role of trust and past online behavior in the disclosure of personal information to a commercial Web site created for this study. Data collected to test the model confirmed all predicted paths. A second aim of this exploratory research was to examine the nature and quality of online disclosure. Data show differences in online information disclosure depending on the characteristics of Internet users and the type of information requested from commercial Web sites.     

Exploring the predictors and the role of trust and concern in the context of data disclosure to governmental institutions

Recently, the number of online databases and the amount of personal information they store have escalated; the potential uses and misuses of these databases have consequently multiplied, and in Europe, there are now calls for a public rediscussion of their legal status. In this context, this paper uses survey data from a Portuguese sample to investigate some psychosocial processes involved in decision-taking related to the disclosure of personal data to governmental institutions. The study tests (1) what societal-level variables (e.g. Post-Materialistic values and System Justification motives) help predict trust and concern felt towards public institutions; (2) whether these societal-level variables are better predictors of disclosure-related decisions than are socio-demographic aspects and knowledge of the legal framework and (3) the capacity of both societal-level variables and trust and concern for predicting the willingness to disclose personal data and to complain about the misuse of data by governmental institutions. Findings show that trust is a key incentive for the disclosure of personal data to governmental institutions and is linked to a more passive engagement with citizenship. Concern, in turn, being negatively linked to system justification and positively to willingness to complain, seems associated with a more active civic citizenship. Implications of this pattern are discussed.     

I trust not therefore it must be risky: Determinants of the perceived risks of disclosing personal data for e-government transactions

Although it is plausible to assume that the risks of disclosing personal data online are inexorably more prevalent in transactions with commercial organizations than with government organizations, such risks can also thrive in exchanges with the latter. While it is argued that risk perceptions necessitate trust, several studies have also noted that trust in an interaction or an exchange partner could significantly contribute to the reduction of the perceptions of the risks involved in an interaction or an exchange. An Internet-based survey with 208 Internet users from three Dutch cities was conducted to collect the necessary data to test the research hypotheses. Results of the online survey reveal that Dutch Internet users’ trust in a government organization’s ability to protect citizens’ personal data and users’ assessment of the sensitivity of personal data disclosed for e-government transactions are related to the perceived risks of disclosing such data negatively and positively, respectively.     

The influence of user affect in online information disclosure

Personal consumer data is the fuel for information driven programs that may differentiate a firm from its competitors and create strategic advantages. However, a tension exists between the user’s desire to protect personal information and the needs of online businesses for consumer data that drive customer relationship and business intelligence applications. This study explores the roles of positive and negative affect on users’ trust and privacy beliefs that relate to the online disclosure of personal information. A model is tested using the responses of 301 Internet users who visited one of two commercial websites. The results indicate that positive affect has a significant effect on users’ website trust and privacy beliefs that motivate online information disclosure and this effect is more pronounced for users with high Internet security concerns. The idea that positive mood-inducing website features can motivate user behavior has the potential to guide the development of websites for effective information disclosure and data collection.     

Trust transference in brick and click retailers: An investigation of the before-online-visit phase

We examined the formation of online trust encountered by potential customers of a brick and click retailer before they visit its online website; this phase of the purchasing experience has been under-investigated in trust literature. Since a brick and click retailer is eager to attract offline customers to its website based on trust in the brick and mortar stores, our exploratory study investigated, (1) Can customers’ offline trust in a retailer affect their online trust (in the website operations of the retailer)?; (2) What other factors might be influential on online trust? A social relations and networks perspective was adopted to explain customers’ online trust formation during the before-online-visit phase. Findings from a sample of 246 offline customers who had never visited a supermarket's website revealed that word-of-mouth, offline trust, and expected sanctioning power were significant in forming online trust. Furthermore, findings showed that word-of-mouth was more influential than offline trust based on a customers’ personal experience with the supermarket's physical stores. This provided empirical evidence on how and why some pure online retailers outperformed brick and click retailers.     

Trust-based protocols for regulating online,friend-of-a-friend communities

An online community is a group whose members are connected by means of information technologies, typically the Internet rather than face to face. Online communities allow social and cultural barriers to be spanned for communication. Social communities rely on interpersonal trust to regulate cohesion in their communities. After a general discussion, we offer protocols that extend viability of friend-of-a-friend framework along with experimental results.     

Expert Sources in Warnings May Reduce the Extent of Identity Disclosure in Cyber Contexts

Identity theft is an increasing threat to individuals, institutions, and the economy. People are often not adequately cautious with the disclosure of their personal information in digital contexts and may make poor decisions to reveal private information. Warnings reduce unnecessary information exposure, but the effectiveness may depend on source credibility and expertise on influencing risk perceptions and attitudes. The warnings must be designed for users acting in a digital context. The current research was conducted to determine whether adding a trustworthy and expert source to a message that warned individuals not to disclose their personal information would impact decisions to disclose. First, a survey (pilot study) was conducted to identify the source considered the most trustworthy (among Google, FBI Cyber Division, and Department of Justice) and competent with respect to online security. Google received the highest ratings. In a later experiment, warnings with sources did reduce the extent of disclosure, with the FBI Cyber Division (not Google) being the most effective source. The results indicate that warnings need to be tested with respect to the actual target behavior (in this case, disclosure), rather than relying on individuals’ perceptions of trust, risk, or influence of a warning message when designing effective warnings.     

The role of disclosure of personal information in the evaluation of risk and trust in young peoples’ online interactions

This study examined the relationship between the evaluation of risk, trust and disclosure of personal information in young peoples’ online interactions. A series of 18 focus groups were conducted with young people aged 9–19 years old. The results suggested that the majority of young people have a high level of awareness of the risks and potential outcomes associated with their online behaviour. Participants perceived disclosure of personal information to be important for the development of online relationships, and discussed associated strategies for evaluating trust and verifying identity. The study suggests that the perceived benefits associated with the disclosure of personal information and interacting with ‘strangers’ online may outweigh the perceived risks associated with these behaviours as the result of the importance of peer relationships and the exploration of identity during adolescence. Identified age-related differences and similarities in relation to the themes are explored, and areas for future research discussed.