Privacy Protecting Behavior in Social Network Sites
The use of Social Network Sites (SNSs) poses risks to the privacy of members: for example, the members’ information could be used for unwelcome commercial purposes or they could become the target of personal attacks. Risks generally lead to Protecting Beh
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Abstract The use of Social Network Sites (SNSs) poses risks to the privacy of members: for example, the members’ information could be used for unwelcome commercial purposes or they could become the target of personal attacks. Risks generally lead to Protecting Behavior. However, it is still unknown which specific Protecting Behavior results from Perceived Privacy Risk in SNSs. Based on a study of the literature, we identified six potential Privacy Protecting Behaviors that SNS members could use. Drawing from the Protection Motivation Theory, we argue that not only does SNS members’ Perceived Privacy Risk (Threat Appraisal) influence the implementation of specific Privacy Protecting Behaviors; their evaluation of the potential Privacy Protecting Behaviors themselves (Coping Appraisal) influences it as well. After surveying 50 German-speaking Facebook users and applying a structural equation modeling approach, we confirmed a positive influence of Perceived Privacy Risk on Refusal, Selectivity in Connections, and Strictness of Privacy Settings. In contrast, we were not able to confirm an influence of Perceived Privacy Risk on Misrepresentation, Removal, and Termination of Connections. However, this confirmed our hypotheses that Perceived Privacy Risk has a greater influence on Refusal than on Misrepresentation and Removal, and that it has greater influence on Selectivity in Connections than on Termination of Connections. 5.1
Introduction
Social Network Sites (SNSs) provide multiple possibilities to disclose personal information (Boyd and Ellison, 2007). As a result, using them presents risks to the privacy of their members: indeed, the members’ information could be used for unwelcome commercial purposes or members could become the target of personal attacks (cf. Krasnova et al., 2010a). People can address their Perceived Privacy Risk by performing Privacy Protecting Behaviors (e.g., Son and Kim, 2008). Perceived Privacy Risk is the degree to which a 57
Claus-Peter H. Ernst, Factors Driving Social Network Site Usage, DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-09918-3_5, © Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden 2015
person believes that using an SNS has negative consequences with regards to his/her privacy (cf. Peter and Ryan, 1976; Featherman and Pavlou, 2003; Dinev and Hart, 2006; Kim et al., 2008; Wu et al., 2009; Krasnova et al., 2010b; Chen, 2013); Privacy Protecting Behavior is the set of possibilities SNS members have at their disposal to safeguard themselves against the potential negative consequences associated with the risks to their privacy (cf. Son and Kim, 2008; Wu et al., 2009; Krasnova et al., 2010b). The Protection Motivation Theory (Rogers, 1975; Maddux and Rogers, 1983; Rogers, 1983) postulates that an individual’s evaluation of a threat (Threat Appraisal) as well as his/her evaluation of the possible Protecting Behaviors that address the threat (Coping Appraisal) both influence the individual’s actual Protecting Behavior. But which specific Protecting Behaviors result from Perceived Privacy Risk in SNSs? In this article, we d
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