Characteristics of Internet Users and Their Privacy Concerns

Abstract

Concern about the privacy of online consumers is a global issue. Given the global nature of the Internet, companies planning and implementing e-commerce must understand the differences in privacy concerns of consumers in different cultures with different social/economic contexts to become effective in business. Motivated by this need, this study analyzes and compares the privacy concerns of online consumers in China and the United States, identifies major factors related to these concerns, and discusses the cultural/social/economic backgrounds of the related phenomena found in the study.

Privacy Coping and Information-Sharing Behaviors in Social Media: A Comparison of Chinese and U.S. Users

“…National culture may influence the use of social media (Chapman & Lahav, 2008;Gretzel, Kang, & Lee, 2008;Lowry et al, 2011). Culture may also influence privacy coping behavior on e-commerce sites (Zhang et al, 2002). We seek to further explore the relationships between information-sharing and privacy coping behaviors for vulnerable populations.…”

“…The major finding across the studies is consistent: national culture influences users' social media behaviors. Online privacy coping behaviors may also differ across cultures, such as in e-commerce settings (Zhang et al, 2002).…”

“…For example, some studies have compared privacy concerns between individuals in different countries (e.g., Lowry, Cao, & Everard, 2011;Zhang, Chen, & Wen, 2002). These studies find that national culture affects privacy concerns.…”

Trust and information privacy concerns in electronic government

“…As people regardless of cultural differences (Cho et al, 2009;Raiha & Ovaska, 2009;Zhang et al, 2002) are confronted with privacy concerns, especially in their interactions with online entities that are both commercial and non-commercial in nature (Belanger & Carter, 2008), the role of privacy statements on websites should be more than an organizational attempt to comply with existing national laws on personal data protection but should be regarded as an ethical exercise of showing concern for users' needs for online information privacy. Just as Internet users from the Netherlands believe that an available and findable privacy statement on a government website is an indication of a government agency's trustworthiness in terms how it will use and process citizens' personal data, it is not implausible to insinuate that users from other countries would share a similar view.…”

“…Considering the universal nature of online privacy concerns as they confront internet users regardless of their culture and geographic location (Cho et al, 2009;Raiha & Ovaska, 2009;Zhang, Chen, & Wen, 2002), the finding that available and easily accessible or findable privacy statements will increase users' trust in disclosing personal data for electronic government transactions may be valid not only in the Netherlands but also in countries where e-government services are constantly pushed for widespread citizen acceptance. However, increased acceptance and usage of electronic government services in any country depend not only on the perceived benefits that can be derived from the aforementioned type of service provision (Al Awadhi & Morris, 2009), but also on users' level of trust in this new system of service delivery (Belanger & Carter, 2008;.…”