The Impact of Privacy Seal on Users’ Perception in Network Transactions

In the age of big data, the issue of online privacy has attracted much attention from all sectors. The introduction and establishment of an evaluation system for the privacy agreement based on a third party, together with the establishment of a safer internet transaction environment, can help to establish mutual trust between users and the platform. With the research background links to the online trading platform, this article investigates how the privacy seal which is provided by the third-party evaluation organization influences and addresses trust-awareness and privacy concerns of users, as well as exposing information and purchasing data. According to this investigation, the application of a privacy seal not only increases the trust-awareness of the users, but can also encourage the intention to disclose information and engage in a transaction. However, it might not totally alleviate the users’ privacy concerns. The results of our research and practical application indicate that the promotion and guarantee of the independence and expertise of the third-party evaluating organization, the effective supervision of privacy policy implementation by the online trading platform, and measures that protect the privacy of the users, all play a vital role in establishing an effective privacy agreement evaluation system.     

CP2: Cryptographic privacy protection framework for online social networks

In Online Social Networks (OSNs), users interact with each other by sharing their personal information. One of the concerns in OSNs is how user privacy is protected since the OSN providers have full control over users’ data. The OSN providers typically store users’ information permanently; the privacy controls embedded in OSNs offer few options to users for customizing and managing the dissipation of their data over the network. In this paper, we propose an efficient privacy protection framework for OSNs that can be used to protect the privacy of users’ data and their online social relationships from third parties. The recommended framework shifts the control over data sharing back to the users by providing them with flexible and dynamic access policies. We employ a public-key broadcast encryption scheme as the cryptographic tool for managing information sharing with a subset of a user’s friends. The privacy and complexity evaluations show the superiority of our approach over previous.     

The role of privacy assurance mechanisms in building trust and the moderating role of privacy concern

Privacy policy statements and privacy assurance cues are among the most important website features that online providers use to increase individuals’ trust and willingness to disclose private information online. The focus of this study is a comprehensive examination of the process by which privacy assurance mechanisms influence trust and the moderating role of privacy concern in this process. We use the lens of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to investigate the way different individuals perceive and process privacy assurance mechanisms. We argue that the trust-enhancing role of these mechanisms depends on the individual’s privacy concern. The results of this study articulate the process by which various privacy assurance mechanisms operate in enhancing an individual’s trust, and show that there are distinct behavioral differences between individuals with high- vs low-privacy concern when forming their trust to disclose private information. The paper sheds new light on the role of elaboration in the trust building process, and shows why privacy assurance mechanisms have different impacts depending on individuals’ privacy concerns.     

Competition and Information Deception in Online Social Networks

This study empirically examines the role of competition in determining intentions toward personal information deception (PID) among users of online social network (OSN) sites. PID refers to OSN users intentionally misrepresenting or refusing to disclose online personal information. The research proposes that consumers’ intentions toward PID depend on their desire for online competition with other OSN users, which in turn depends on user appraisals of available status and hedonic benefits, as well as established social norms around competition. An analysis of data gathered from 499 OSN participants (students enrolled at a state university in the southeastern United States) shows that competitive desires represent an important antecedent of PID behavior in OSN contexts. Theoretical and practical implications of the research are also discussed.     

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.     

社交网络研究综述

社交网络已成为Web2.0时代最流行的应用,其服务范围已逐步从社交关系管理扩展到媒体信息、应用集成、电子商务等领域。社交网络中大量的活跃用户为研究网络行为、数据安全、信息传播以及其他跨学科问题提供了宝贵的数据和场景。自Facebook出现以来,研究者先后从不同的角度对社交网络进行了大量的研究,这些研究对人们认识社交网络内部规律、促进ICP服务改进具有重大意义。首先对社交网络的发展进行了简单的回顾;然后从社交网络的数据采集技术、社交网络用户行为分析、社交网络中的信息传播及社交网络中的用户隐私4个方面对已有的研究工作进行总结评价;最后,总结了当前研究中出现的问题并对未来研究发展趋势进行了展望。希望能为该领域的研究者提供一些有益的启示。     

The ‘Privacy Paradox’ in the Social Web: The Impact of Privacy Concerns,Individual Characteristics,and the Perceived Social Relevance on Different Forms of Self‐Disclosure

Given the diffusion of the Social Web and increased disclosure of personal information online, the ‘privacy paradox’ suggests that while Internet users are concerned about privacy, their behaviors do not mirror those concerns. This study investigates the potential influence of privacy concerns, psychological traits, attitudes to the Social Web and age on self‐disclosure. Using an online survey of a representative sample of German Internet users (n = 2, 739), the variety and quality of self‐disclosure as well as access were measured. The findings indicate that privacy concerns hardly impact self‐disclosure, but different variables moderate this relation. Perceived social relevance and the number of applications used proved important. Users' general willingness to disclose is most important when providing sensitive information.     

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.     

Understanding consumers’ continuance intention towards mobile purchase: A theoretical framework and empirical study – A case of China

Although mobile purchase is convenient in the age of mobile commerce, many consumers still do not utilize mobile purchase to its full potential. From the mobile vendor’s perspective, retaining current customers and facilitating their continued purchase are crucial to create profitability and achieve a sustainable development. An understanding of the continuance intention towards mobile purchase can provide insights into mobile vendors’ marketing campaigns. Therefore, it is important to examine the determinants that impact continuance intentions of consumers for mobile purchase. Drawing upon information success model, flow theory and trust, this study proposed and empirically tested an integrated model to better understand the determinants of consumers’ continued intention to purchase on mobile sites. Empirical data from 462 users who had experience with mobile purchase were tested against the proposed research model by using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results indicated that information quality, and privacy and security concerns are the main factors affecting trust, whereas service quality is the main factor affecting flow. System quality, and privacy and security concerns affect satisfaction. Trust affects flow, which in turn affects satisfaction. These three factors together affect continued intention towards mobile purchase. The findings of this study provide several important implications for mobile commerce research and practice.     

Online stickiness: its antecedents and effect on purchasing intention

Website stickiness, the website's ability to retain online customers and prolong his/her duration of each stay, is one of the key factors to e-commerce success. However, how to make customers stick around is still unclear to online retailers. This paper examines the antecedents as well as effect of customer's intention to stick on a website. A model is developed and tested using a survey of 434 web users. The results confirm that the web user's willingness to stick to a website is a strong predictor of his/her intention to transact. Web managers thus need to put emphasis on the creation of the website stickiness. The results of this study also suggest that the formation of the stickiness is affected by web user attitude towards a website, trust in a website and the quality of website content. Implications of these findings are discussed for researchers and practitioners.     

Saving face on Facebook: privacy concerns,social benefits,and impression management

The nearly ubiquitous use of online social networks generally entails substantial personal disclosure and elicits significant privacy concerns. This research uses Social Exchange Theory and the impression management (IM) literature to examine how privacy concerns can be counterbalanced by the perceived social benefits afforded by a social network’s ability to support IM. We frame social network use as an attempt to engage in IM, and we highlight the importance of a social network’s IM affordances in predicting social benefits from, and disclosure through, a social network. We test our model with a sample of 244 Facebook users, finding support for the proposed relationships and yielding the following contributions. First, this research provides a novel positioning of perceived IM affordances as a primary driver of both perceived social benefits and IM disclosure propensity. Second, this research illuminates that trust in both the social network provider and social network peers influences privacy concerns, social benefits, and perceived IM affordances. Our theory has important implications for researchers and practitioners interested in privacy issues within social networks.     

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.     

Compensation paradox: the influence of monetary rewards on user behaviour

Many e-commerce companies collect users’ personal data for marketing purposes despite privacy concerns. Information-collecting companies often offer a monetary reward to users to alleviate privacy concerns and ease the collection of personal information. This study focused on the negative effects of monetary rewards on both information privacy concerns (IPC) and information disclosure. A survey approach was used to collect data and 370 final responses were analysed using a two-way analysis of variance and a binomial logistic regression model. The results show that monetary rewards increase IPC when an information-collecting company requires sensitive information. Additional results indicate that building trust is a more effective way of collecting personal data. This study identifies how organisations can best execute information-collection activities and contributes additional insights for academia and practitioners.     

Online stickiness: its antecedents and effect on purchasing intention

Website stickiness, the website's ability to retain online customers and prolong his/her duration of each stay, is one of the key factors to e-commerce success. However, how to make customers stick around is still unclear to online retailers. This paper examines the antecedents as well as effect of customer's intention to stick on a website. A model is developed and tested using a survey of 434 web users. The results confirm that the web user's willingness to stick to a website is a strong predictor of his/her intention to transact. Web managers thus need to put emphasis on the creation of the website stickiness. The results of this study also suggest that the formation of the stickiness is affected by web user attitude towards a website, trust in a website and the quality of website content. Implications of these findings are discussed for researchers and practitioners.     

Forming an intention to act on recommendations given via online social networks

Online social networks (OSN) are technology-enabled relationship tools in which a user creates a profile, connects to other individuals, and shares user-generated content with them. One of the many features OSN offer is the ability to post messages in the form of product and service recommendations. Although word-of-mouth research has examined this type of personal communication to intentionally influence consumer decisions, limited understanding exists regarding when a user acts upon a recommendation received from one of their contacts. In this study, we draw on relationship theories and research on trust to analyze the impact relationship characteristics and behaviors of the OSN contacts have on trust in the recommendation that subsequently leads a user to act on this OSN contact’s recommendation. The results of a survey of 116 OSN users showed that closeness, excessive posting behavior, and past recommendation experience have a positive impact on trust and intention to act on the recommendation. One characteristic of the relationships, that is, similarity, however, does not affect recommendation trust in the context of OSN. The findings enhance our understanding of relationships and their defining characteristics in OSN. The results also provide insights into how companies might leverage OSN in their marketing efforts.     

Disclosing too much? Situational factors affecting information disclosure in social commerce environment

The buying and selling of goods and services are no longer limited to a general website or a physical store as social networks, such as Facebook or Pinterest, are heavily focusing on social commerce. Prior studies have analyzed impact of trust and culture on social commerce, design and interface aspects of it, and intention to use social commerce by general people. Our study is informed by the literature on information disclosure intention, and Communication Privacy Management theory and is motivated by the fundamental premise that intention to self-disclose in social commerce is affected by perceived ownership of information, privacy apathy, the risks and benefits of disclosure and fairness of information exchange. We analyzed data collected from 252 samples using the scenario method. The results show that shoppers’ information disclosure intention is driven by the fairness of information exchange, privacy benefits and privacy apathy.     

Do context and personality matter? Trust and privacy concerns in disclosing private information online

Research and business practice have already established the central role of trust in business, particularly in online interactions. Many online business exchanges require the disclosure of sensitive personal information on a regular basis. Simultaneously, customers are reluctant to disclose private information online due to concerns about privacy. Thus, trust plays a critical role in such disclosures. However, a number of factors could influence the extent of customers’ trust and their willingness to disclose their private information. In this study, we explore the critical roles of two sets of factors: the sensitivity of the context within which the private information is disclosed and the customer's personality. Our theory building is based on the contextualization of the theory of reasoned action (TRA-Privacy) and its synthesis with Prospect theory. Our theory argues that context sensitivity as a moderator and individuals’ salient attributes in terms of personality types and privacy concern are critical factors impacting trust and the willingness to disclose personal information. Our results indicate that context moderates the parameters and path structure of the trust model and that the influence of personality on privacy concern and trust depends on the nature of the context. Applying these “who” and “where” aspects of theory building, the study opens a new avenue of context-related research that can further increase the specificity and richness of trust and privacy research. The study also provides a new perspective in trust scholarship, therein requiring the examination of three inter-related components: trustee, trustor and the context of trust.     

The effect of online privacy policy on consumer privacy concern and trust

This study aims to investigate trust and privacy concerns related to the willingness to provide personal information online under the influence of cross-cultural effects. This study investigated the relationships among the content of online privacy statements, consumer trust, privacy concerns, and the moderating effect of different cultural backgrounds of the respondents. In specific, this study developed a proposed model based on Privacy–Trust–Behavioral Intention model. Further, a total of 500 participants participated in the survey, including 250 from Russia and 250 from Taiwan. The findings indicate a significant relationship between the content of privacy policies and privacy concern/trust; willingness to provide personal information and privacy concern/trust; privacy concern and trust. The cross-cultural effect on the relationships between the content of privacy policies and privacy concern/trust was also found significant.     

The relationship between website quality,trust and price premiums at online auctions

This study measures the value of website quality in terms of its impact on trust, intention to transact and price premiums. Prior research on online auctions has focused on the use of reputation systems for building trust in online auction vendors and subsequently to generate price premiums. This study examines the extent to which trust can be induced by improving the quality of online auction listings. A survey of 701 eBay users is conducted which compares the price premiums of two nearly identical online auction businesses, one that has online auction listings with a perceived high quality and the other that has substantially lower perceived quality. Results of this study indicate that website quality can explain 49% of the variation in the trust for eBay sellers. In fact, it shows that sellers with good website quality are all perceived to be equally trustworthy regardless of their eBay reputation; whereas sellers with poor website quality are not perceived to be trustworthy even if they have a high eBay reputation score. The results also show that the trust resulting from increased website quality increases intention to transact and results in price premiums of 12% (on average) for sellers with higher quality listings. Theories from marketing, economics, and social psychology are used to explain why website quality induces trust in unknown vendors without providing any concrete evidence regarding the vendor’s past history.     

Examining the impact of privacy, trust and risk perceptions beyond monetary transactions: An integrated model

Much interest in privacy and trust studies is about shopping, but privacy research in other forms of online activities is beginning to emerge. This study examined the antecedents of privacy, trust and risk as well as their joint effect on two similar but fundamentally different activities: online transactions and retrieval of privileged information. Both activities involve the delivery of private user information, but the latter gives some leeway for users to control (or even falsify) their true identity. User shopping experience in the present study moderated the relationships and strengths of constructs. The effect of Internet literacy, social awareness and disposition to trust on privacy concern and trust was weaker for experienced shoppers. Privacy concern, trust and risk assessment played a lesser role on the two activity variables for those who were more experienced. Perceived privacy risk stood out as a strong antecedent for respondents in both experience groups, but the effect of Internet literacy, social awareness and disposition on trust was statistically insignificant for the same group. Further practical and managerial implications are provided.