ESSAYS ON INFORMATION PRIVACY CHALLENGES

Abstract

This dissertation consists of two essays. The primary objective of this dissertation is to enhance the knowledge of information privacy challenges in the digital age. The first essay explores the key antecedents of privacy fatigue and how it works in the mechanism for privacy evaluation. Based on the person-environment fit theory, Essay 1 examines the effects of incongruence between individuals and privacy-preserving environment on the sense of privacy fatigue. Further, the essay explores how the presence of privacy fatigue influences the cognitive process of privacy calculus by employing a multi-group approach. Data collected from a survey of 401 participants indicated that the perceived misfit has a significant impact on the feelings of privacy fatigue. In the multi-group analysis, it was demonstrated that privacy fatigue negatively moderated the relationship between privacy-related perceptions and information disclosure intention in the context of personalized recommendation services. Based on the investigation of Essay 1 in which a poor fit between the individuals and the privacy environment can enhance the sense of privacy fatigue, which has a detrimental effect on privacy decision-making, the second essay investigates how privacy-enhancing features understandable to users can influence their preferences in the context of smart speakers. By employing a conjoint analysis, the essay examined users’ evaluations of privacy-enhancing features. Individual consumer preference level was generated from a conjoint approach, dealing with the six attributes of parasite function, data storage method, security notice, speaker recognition function, brand, and price. Data collected from a survey of 516 consumers identified that, aside from the attribute of price, a parasite function was ranked as the most preferred attribute. It was also found that the preference structure was varied across both user status and clusters.