Three Research Essays on Examining Online Privacy Concerns: The Role of Personal Dispositions, Contexts and Privacy-Assurance Features

摘要

Information privacy is a major concern of internet users; however, online vendors need information provided by consumers to sell products and services. This work proposes three essays to explore online privacy behavior of internet users. The first essay examines the role of personal dispositions in impacting information sensitivity, privacy concern, and trust in the context of providing health information online. The second essay studies the relative influence of context (health, financial and personal) on privacy concern, trust, and intention to disclose information online. The third essay investigates the role of privacy policies and privacy-assurance cues in enhancing web customer's trust in disclosing their information online across the three different contexts (health, financial and personal). Together, these essays provide insight to the personal and contextual factors impacting online privacy concerns.