Internet Seals of Approval: Effects on Online Privacy Policies and Consumer Perceptions

Abstract

The use of Internet seal of approval programs has been touted as an alternative to potential legislation concerning consumer‐related online privacy practices. Questions have been raised, however, regarding the effectiveness of such programs with respect to maintaining privacy standards and aiding online consumers. The authors examine these issues in a series of three studies, the first of which is an exploratory application of Federal Trade Commission privacy standards to various online privacy policies in an effort to determine the ability of seal of approval program participation to act as a valid cue to a firm's stated privacy practices. The second and third studies are experiments designed to ascertain how online firm participation in Internet seal of approval programs affects consumers. Implications for consumer policy are discussed.

The determinants of increasing privacy concerns in the mobile apps

“…Because of the demand on the high ethical standard on online and related advertising market, firms employed trust-marks composed with a logo, symbol or picture on the site. The effectiveness (enhancing trust) of mark to the customers has proved by several prior literatures [39], [2], [25].…”

“…All respondents are between 20s to 40s age group. Thus, all of them are included in the X (26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44) and Y (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25) generation. Y generation respondents make up the 83% (159) of the total samples.…”

A Prediction Model for Initial Trust Formation in Electronic Commerce

“…To provide and control for source credibility, both messages were presented as an article in USA Today. Following assignment to a simulated Web site on which the type and number of elements that represent guarantees, institutional assurances of trustworthiness, and social presence were varied, the effect of these elements was evaluated using measures adapted from previous research (Miyazaki and Krishnamurthy, 2002). The simulated Web site created for this experiment was "product-neutral" in that it typified a "registration" page on which new users would provide personal information to learn more about a product or service.…”

“…Consumer rating symbols indicate a satisfied customer experience with the Web site (BizRate, 2009). Although e-commerce literature offers contradictory findings on the ability of TTPs to influence online users, there is evidence of the positive effect of TTPs on purchasing likelihood (Fogg, Soohoo and Danielson, 2002) and information disclosure for some users (Miyazaki and Krishnamurthy, 2002). Additionally, as symbols of expertise, the presence of these artifacts may result in less thought given to scrutiny of information about the Web vendor (Chaiken et al, 1996;Petty and Cacioppo, 1986).…”

“…User susceptibility to social or interpersonal influence is defined as the tendency of persons to change their online information-giving behavior as a result of social pressure (McGuire, 1968). The dependent variable is willingness to provide personal information ranging from data perceived as low risk (i.e., name, email address) to data perceived as high risk (i.e., credit card number, social security number) (Miyazaki and Krishnamurthy, 2002).…”