Insider Privacy Breach and Trust Restoration: Is the CEO's Gender as Important as the CEO's Response?

摘要

In this study we use Politeness Theory to understand the trust violation and restoration process. The study examines the role of CEO gender, perceived CEO status, and response type (apology vs. denial) on restored trust and trusting beliefs in the case of an insider data breach incident. The data were collected using a scenario based experiment from students studying in a Midwestern University. Data were analyzed using SEM approach with five different models. The study controlled for perceived news seriousness, website reputation and perceived design quality, user's privacy concern, trust propensity and user-gender. The results show that in the case of an insider data breach incident a CEO apology is more effective than a denial. Perceived CEO status helps in restoring trust especially in the case of denial. The study also reveals the hidden gendered biases. Male CEOs are more effective in restoring trust with denial than female CEOs are. Social, managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.