ECREA16-Abstract

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Shopping for Privacy: Exploring National Differences in Disclosure of Personal Data in Ecommerce

C. Robinson

Linköping University, Department of Science and Technology, Norrköping, Sweden

Introduction Ecommerce, defined as the purchasing of goods or services as 'digitally enabled commercial transaction[s] between and among organizations

and individuals" (Laudon & Traver, 2003, p. 10), is a strong economic force totaling over $1 trillion in sales in 2013 ((Leggatt, 2013, para. 1). As with many

digital technologies, consumers must divulge personal data in order to utilize services or interact with websites. With ecommerce, consumers are required

to provide information necessary for fulfilling and completing an online purchase (i.e. address, phone number, credit card information). Further, consumers

may disclose information in exchange for a more personalized shopping experience or for product recommendations (Chellappa & Sin, 2005). This study

explored how, why, and under what circumstances consumers are willing to disclose personal information in ecommerce transactions. An online survey

conducted among participants in the US (n=248) and Estonia (n=225) examined willingness to disclose and perceived risks pertaining to disclosing per‑

sonally identifying information (PII, also referred to as personal data in Europe) in ecommerce, as well as attitude toward disclosure in general, and anxiety

disclosing personal data. As a basis for comparison versus the US, the country of Estonia was studied due to its advanced standing of technological systems,

advanced legislation and regulations intended to foster the use of communication technology, a culture that is collectivist and long-term oriented, a high

level of citizen proficiency with the Internet, and a unique aversion to risk due to a historic cyber-attack. Results Despite Estonia’s advanced adoption and

progressive policies and practices toward the Internet, Americans were more willing to disclose, and were less concerned about perceived risks. For Esto‑

nians, ecommerce experience, perceived purchase benefits, and trust in the Internet and institutions were significant predictors of willingness to disclose

personal data. Americans who perceived purchase benefits were found to be the most likely to disclose PII, while Americans with lower levels of education

were also more willing to disclose. Online disclosure consciousness (ODC) was introduced as a framework to conceptualize and empirically measure the gap

between one’s willingness to disclose and perceived risk pertaining to the overall 17-item index used in the study, the sub-indices, and particular items.

Using 7-point Likert-type measures, the results showed significant gaps among participants both within and across nations. Implications For policy makers

in both the United States and the European Union, this study shed light on what types of information consumers consider risky. The findings also suggest

marketers and policy makers should recognize that data disclosed online are not all equally sensitive to consumers. The study utilized a 17-item list of po‑

tential disclosure items (name, email address, etc.) and showed these can be categorized reliably into six sub-indices.The ODC model provides an alternative

conceptualization to the ideas of the privacy paradox, privacy calculus, and privacy cost-benefit ratios found in the literature. Implications for theory,

consumers, marketing practice, and public policy are discussed.

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Online Privacy: Websites Managers' Perspective and Policy Implications

A. Ginosar

, Y. Ariel

The Academic College of Yezreel Valley, Communication, Emek Yezreel, Israel

Online privacy has turned to be a major issue in the research of the interface between Internet technologies and society (Bennett & Parsons, 2013). Most

studies on the issue focus on one of three groups of stakeholders: (a) internet users, their privacy concerns and behavior (e.g. Paine et al., 2007); (b) poli‑

cy-makers and regulators who respond to users concerns (e.g. Rasmus & Stine, 2013); and (c) the firm or the website which adopt fair procedures in order

to gain business benefits (e.g. Gerlach, Widjaja and Buxmann, 2015). However, a fourth group of stakeholders is almost ignored: the website owners and

managers as individuals. It seems that there is no study that directly exposes these individuals' views regarding online privacy, their own concerns about

the issue, and their ideas and efforts to meet users' privacy concerns. One can argue that privacy notice on a website reflects the website's owner/manager's

views. However, privacy notices reflect only the legal considerations and restrictions that websites' owners and managers dealing with, and not their real

views, beliefs and knowledge. In the current study we directly addressed websites' owners and managers. While exposing their views, beliefs and behavior

regarding online privacy, we found that a relatively high percentage of the respondents claimed that they did not understand some of the privacy issues

which we presented in the questionnaire; Yet, those who did not understand the issues were convinced that they met users privacy concerns much more

than the respondents who claimed to understand the issues. In addition, a correlation was found between the age of the websites owners/managers and

their concern and behavior: the younger the website owners/managers are, the least they are concerned about user's privacy and the more they take

actions to safeguard user's privacy. Following these two findings we present and analyze what we call "the websites privacy paradox."While the traditional

"privacy paradox" (Barnes, 2006) addresses users' online behavior, the websites privacy paradox refers to websites owners'/managers' behavior.We believe

that our findings contribute to the discussion on privacy policy and privacy state regulation vs. self-regulation. Reference Barnes, S. B. (2006). A privacy

paradox: Social networking in the united states. First Monday, 11(9). Bennett, C. J. and Parsons, C. (2013). Privacy and surveillance: The multidisciplinary

literature on the capture, use, and disclosure of personal information in cyberspace. In Dutton, W. (ed), The oxford handbook of internet studies. Oxford UK:

Oxford University Press, pp. 486–508. Gerlach, J.,Widjaja,T. and Buxmann, P. (2015). Handle with care: How online social network providers' privacy policies

impact users' information sharing behavior. Journal of Strategic Information System, 24: 33–43 Paine, C., Reips, U., Stieger, S., Joinson, A. and Buchanan,

T. (2007). Internet users’perceptions of‘privacy concerns’and‘privacy actions’. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 65(6): 526–536. Rasmus,

H. and Stine, L. (2013). Regulatory response? Tracking the influence of technological developments on privacy regulation in Denmark from 2000 to 2011.

Policy & Internet, 3: 289–303.