June 2014. Vol. 5, No.

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PRIVACY CONCERNS OF

SOCIAL NETWORK SITE USERS IN TAIWAN
Kuang-Ming Kuo1, Paul C. Talley*2
Department of Healthcare Administration, I-Shou University, Taiwan (R.O.C.)1
Department of International Business Administration, I-Shou University, Taiwan (R.O.C.)2
Email: kuangmingkuo@gmail.com1, Email: atlanta.ga@msa.hinet.net (corresponding author)2

Abstract
The study has two purposes: (1) to investigate the impact of awareness and control on Social Network Sites (SNSs)
users information privacy concerns, and (2) to understand how information privacy concerns and the notion of
trust shape users risk perceptions. The study collects data using survey methodology. A total of 356 SNS users are
analyzed via partial least squares. Users regard awareness of and direct control over personal information
disclosed on SNSs to be relative to their information privacy concerns in a positive and a negative direction,
respectively. Furthermore, information privacy concerns and trust may collectively influence their perceived risk
towards SNS. It is therefore advisable for SNS service providers to pay more attention to their own understanding of
how awareness and control principles influence users information privacy concerns. Further, SNS providers should
also propose more effective means necessary to reduce users information privacy concerns overall.
Keywords: Information privacy concerns, Social network site, Trust, Risk, Social contract theory

1.

interests, hometown, residence, mobile phone

number, campus room, favorite stuff, among others
(Lewis, Kaufman, & Christakis, 2008), and the
potential for such information to possibly be misused
(Dwyer, 2011; Young & Quan-Haase, 2013). Further,
leading SNSs, including Facebook and Google,
publicly express that privacy should be regarded as
an unimportant concern (Dwyer, 2011). The general
attitude that has been adopted by two of the biggest
social networks, Google and Facebook, is that users
should assume full responsibility for their own
privacy concerns through a process of self-control,
self-censorship,
lowered
expectations,
and
acclimatization (Huff Post Tech, 2011; Protalinski,
2011). Facebook even proclaims that as new privacy
problems come along with the introduction of newer
functions, people will just have to learn to accept it as
they always have (Pepitone, 2014).

Introduction

A Social Network Site (SNS) refers to a virtual

community in which individuals with similar
interests can intercommunicate by sharing personal
profiles (Shin, 2010). SNSs, such as Facebook,
MySpace, and Google+, have become popular online
communities that numerous people use regularly to
socialize with their friends, families, and colleagues.
As of January 2014, Facebook has more than 1.3
billion monthly active users around the globe
(Statistic Brain, 2014). Via SNSs, individuals can not
only search and observe their friends through various
postings, but they can also see who their friends
choose to know. It is now commonplace for any
given individual to have hundreds, or even thousands,
of friends located around the world. Hence, a SNS
truly possesses abundant personal information readily
available to viewers for any reason.

Users attitudes toward privacy may influence the

amount and the kind of information posted and
shared on SNSs (Acquisti & Gross, 2006), which
may in its turn have an important impact on the
vibrancy (i.e., driving of profitability) of SNSs
(Stutzman, Capra, & Thompson, 2011; Weiss, 2009).
Without users providing a regular input of content,
these SNSs would become less attractive to potential
users. Consequently, a knowledge of what factors

While SNSs offer a great variety of chances for

interpersonal communicative interaction, the public
has already voiced far-reaching concerns about SNSs
(Hoy & Milne, 2010). One critical issue is the
privacy concerns aroused when an SNS collects so
much detailed personal information such as gender,

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

arouse SNS users information privacy concerns and,

in turn, what consequences those information privacy
concerns will cause, are imperative for SNS service
providers to possess in order to know how to keep the
proliferation of SNSs unimpaired.

The definitions of privacy vary in different

disciplines and there is no single concept of privacy
that can be embraced across all disciplines (Smith,
Dinev, & Xu, 2011). For example, privacy refers to
the right to be left alone in the law (Warren &
Brandeis, 1890) and control in social sciences
(Culnan, 1993). Further, Altman (1976) argues that
privacy encompasses social and interpersonal
aspects. Consequently, to effectively measure privacy
is not an easy task and there is a tendency to use
privacy concerns as a proxy for measuring privacy
(Smith et al., 2011). Information privacy concerns, a
subset of the overall concept of privacy (Blanger &
Crossler, 2011), refers to the ability of an individual
to personally control information about ones self
while information privacy concerns are the degree to
which an individual is concerned about
organizational practices related to the collection and
use of his/her personal information (Smith, Milberg,
& Burke, 1996).

Previous studies regarding SNS focused on issues

such as why users participate in such virtual
communities (Tsai & Pai, 2014), or on their loyalty to
SNS (Chiu, Cheng, Huang, & Chen, 2013). Further,
most research on SNS is mainly U.S. based (e.g.,
Stutzman et al., 2011), it is thus necessary to
culturally balance understandings of SNS usage by
considering the issue from a global perspective.
Taiwanese are now the biggest users of Facebook in
Asia and Twitter also interests in boosting its
presence in Taiwan (Chiu, 2013). Hence, Taiwan
thus provides an interesting context in which to
explore SNS usage. In Taiwan, there is the
Computerized Personal Information Protection Act
which regulates the privacy protection of personal
information (Department of Justice, 2010). However,
the concept of privacy protection is still evolving in
Taiwan as compared with the United States and the
European market, where government regulation is a
commonly adopted approach to protect privacy
(Culnan & Bies, 2003).

Smith et al. (1996) proposed and validated an

instrument that measures the primary dimensions of
individuals information privacy concerns. The result
was a 15-item instrument that comprises four
dimensions of the concerns for information privacy
(CFIP) scale: collection, unauthorized secondary use,
improper access, and errors. Stewart and Segars
(2002) further verified these four dimensions.
Malhotra, Kim, & Agarwal (2004) also developed a
multi-dimensional scale of Internet users information
privacy concerns (IUIPC). IUIPC contains three
components of privacy concerns: collection of
personal information, control over personal
information, and awareness of organizational privacy.
It should be noted that CFIP was more widely
adopted than IUIPC, but IUIPC has been underutilized (Blanger & Crossler, 2011).

Privacy concerns present an important issue in ecommerce because consumers care about whether
their disclosed personal information is fairly handled
by online organizations. The primary concerning
object is the online organization that collects and then
uses individuals personal information. However, the
concerning objects in SNS context are far more
complicated than that of e-commerce. Besides, SNS
service providers may collect and use SNS users
personal information, SNS users friends and other
users may also collect and use such information for
their own advantage. These differing concerned
objects make the SNS a different context from that of
general e-commerce. To better understand the
complex privacy concerns shared among various
concerned objects in SNSs, it is better to adopt a
divide and conquer strategy. Hence, our study first
focuses on two salient concerned objects (i.e., users
themselves and service providers) in the SNS context
to investigate the privacy issue.

Malhotra et al. (2004) viewed control as the most

important component of IUIPC. However, Margulis
(2003a, 2003b) argued that viewing control-related
phenomenon as privacy has not helped much to
illuminating this issue. Further, Laufer & Wolfe
(1977, p. 26) recognized control as a mediating
variable in a privacy system since a situation is not
necessarily a privacy situation simply because the
individual perceives, experiences or exercises
control. In addition to collection, awareness is
another component of IUIPC (Malhotra et al., 2004).
Dinev & Hart (2006a) proposed social awareness
which refers to an individuals active involvement
and increased interest in focal issues to predict

1.1 Privacy, information privacy, and information

privacy concerns

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

privacy concerns. For example, Internet users with

high social awareness (i.e., interested in social issues
and policies) will closely track Internet privacy
issues. Further, plenty of studies also demonstrate
that awareness is a determinant of privacy concerns
(Cepedes & Smith, 1993; Foxman & Kilcoyne, 1993;
Sheehan & Hoy. 2000). Based on the above
discussions, it may be reasonable to assume that
control and awareness is different from the privacy
concept and can be considered as antecedents to such
privacy concerns.

embarrassment, blackmailing, stalking, and even

identity theft. Further, McKinsey & Company (2013)
reported that only 6% of global executives do not
associate any risks with use of social technologies
including SNS. Brandtzg, Lders, & Skjetne (2010)
further argue that trust has not been sufficiently
investigated in social networking context. Based on
the above discussions, it seems timely and reasonable
to investigate the role that trust and risk play in the
use of SNSs.
1.3 Theoretical background

1.2 Trust and risk in social networking context

1.3.1 Antecedentsprivacy
model

Trust and risk are two salient beliefs in any

information privacy context (Malhotra et al., 2004).
Altman (1976) argued that privacy exists as an
interpersonal boundary process which depicts a
boundary between the person and others. Further,
privacy can also be viewed as an input and output
process (Altman, 1976) which may refer to how a
person may receive communications from others, or
send output comprised of information, to others. An
interpersonal boundary may be opened, or closed for
that matter, primarily based upon interpersonal
factors such as the level of trust on the information
receiver (Altman & Taylor, 1973). Further, it is the
risk that elicits the persons protective behavior of
closing the interpersonal boundary which separates
public and private information (Xu, Dinev, Smith, &
Hart, 2011). In an e-commerce context, Pan &
Zinkhan (2006) argued that consumers are worried
about their privacy risks along with the collection or
secondary use of personal information without their
given consent. Consequently, rendering personal
information to online organizations demands
individuals to surrender a certain level of trust.
Okazaki, Li, & Hirose (2009) found that privacy
concerns were a significant predictor of trust and
perceived risk in mobile advertising.

concernsoutcomes

The study of privacy concerns across disciplines and

contexts may be facilitated by Smith et al.s (2011)
proposal of an APCO (antecedentsprivacy
concernsoutcomes) model. The APCO model
clearly demonstrates the relationships between and
among privacy concerns and their antecedents and
consequences. The antecedents of privacy concerns
may include privacy experiences, privacy awareness,
personality differences, demographic differences, and
culture/climate. Notably, these relationships between
antecedents and privacy concerns have not been
affirmed through sufficient studies (Smith et al.,
2011). Contrary to the antecedents, the outcomes of
privacy concerns which may include behavioral
intention (e.g., to disclose personal information),
regulation issues, privacy calculus (i.e., weighing
between risks/costs and benefits), trust, and risk have
been largely investigated.
1.3.2 Social contract theory
Social Contract Theory (SCT) provides one of the
theoretical underpinnings for our study. SCT
postulates that the exchange of consumers personal
information with a marketer is viewed similar to an
implied social contract (Pan & Zinkhan, 2006). One
of the primary talking points of SCT is that normgeneration micro-social contracts must be grounded
in informed consent, buttressed by rights of existence
and voice (Dunfee, Smith, & Ross, 1999, p. 19),
which is useful for the study of perceptual fairness
and justice within information exchange contexts
(Malhotra et al., 2004). A social contract is initiated
when social norms (i.e., generally recognized
obligations) are expected to govern the behavior of
those involved. The implied social contract is
considered fair if the marketer obeys fair
information practices which reflects three conditions

Meanwhile, trust and risk have been identified as

vital factors that affect individuals intentions in a
social networking context. For example, Taddei &
Contena (2013) found that trust influences what
people are willing to share in SNSs. Shin (2010)
reported that trust significantly influences an
individuals attitude toward SNSs. Further, Fogel and
Nehmad (2009) found that risk-taking belief is
significantly different between male and female as
well as between those who maintain SNS profiles and
those do not. Gross & Acquisti (2005) list several
risks that SNS users may face including

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

of knowledge, notice, and no (Culnan, 1995).

Knowledge refers to consumers awareness that
personal information has been collected. Then,
consumers must become aware that their personal
information may be shared with other interested
parties. Lastly, consumers must be empowered to
confine the sharing of their personal information to
other parties by reserving the right to say no to
such an exchange. The above conditions may imply
that consumers are presumed to possess certain rights
regarding their information privacy when engaging
online transactions (Pan & Zinkhan, 2006). More
specifically, it is knowledge (i.e., consumers are
aware of collection and informed about reuse of
personal information) and control (consumers
exercise control over reuse) that make privacy exist
(Culnan, 1995) from the lens of SCT. The notion of
SCT has been applied to many studies concerning
business/marketing ethics (e.g., Culnan, 1995;
Dunfee et al., 1999; Malhotra et al., 2004) and also
SNS privacy (e.g., Fogel & Nehmad, 2009), which
provided a reasonable foundation for studying
privacy issues in a SNS context.

insightful conclusions and have advanced our

knowledge of privacy in a SNS context. However,
none of these studies empirically validated constructs
including awareness, control, privacy concerns, trust,
and risk perceptions in one model simultaneously.
Although our proposed model is simple, the
relationships among these constructs cannot be
oversimplified and may require thoughtful study.
Without clarification of the relationships among these
constructs, it may not be able to well manage privacy
issues regarding SNSs.
The purposes of this study are twofold. The first
purpose is to investigate the impact of awareness and
control perceptions on SNS users information
privacy concerns. The second purpose is to
understand how information privacy concerns and
trust shape users risk perceptions. The findings of
the present study can assist the respective SNSs to
obtain a better knowledge of users beliefs and
responses to relative privacy concerns so that the
SNSs will not negatively impact their users privacy
anticipations. Such assistance may lead to higher
adoption rates and regular usage of the SNSs.

1.4 Previous SNS privacy-related literature

2 Research model and research hypotheses

There are a number of studies focusing privacy issues
in a SNS context. For example, Fogel & Nehamad
(2009) used college students as subjects and found
that individuals with SNS profiles and males have
greater risk-taking attitudes. Further, students trust
Facebook more than MySpace. Females are
concerned with privacy more than males. Shin (2010)
examined the SNS adoption pattern of users and
found that security, privacy, and trust predict users
attitudes toward SNS adoption. Mohamed & Ahmad
(2012) investigated the antecedents (i.e., perceived
severity, perceived vulnerability, self-efficacy,
response efficacy, reward, and gender) and
consequences (privacy measure) of privacy concerns
in a SNS context. The results reveal that only
response efficacy and rewards are not significant
predictors of privacy concerns, and privacy concerns
significantly predict privacy measures. Brandtzg et
al. (2010) explored the influence of content sharing
and sociability on SNS users privacy experiences
and usage behavior. They found that content sharing
and sociability may challenge users social privacy
notions over which they are mostly concerned. Lewis
et al. (2008) investigated the factors influencing SNS
users preference for privacy and found that both
social influences and personal incentives are
significant predictors. All these studies provide

2.1 Conceptual model formulation

To build our research framework, we first use the
APCO model as our overarching foundation in order
to articulate that privacy concerns mediate between
their antecedents and consequences. Hence, the foci
of this research are on the antecedents and
consequences of SNSs users privacy concerns.
Regarding the antecedents, the rationale is explained
as follows. We consider the relationships between
SNS users and service providers as an implied social
contract, as stated in the SCT. When users agree to
register and use the SNS, both the behaviors of users
and service providers are governed by social norms.
That is, users should be informed that SNSs will
collect their personal information, and then the
collected information may be shared with third
parties. This belief basically reflects the construct of
awareness which will be integrated into our model.
Meanwhile, to be a fair social contract, users should
be further empowered to control the SNSs handling
of their personal information, and this belief is
equivalent to the construct of control in our model. If
SNS service providers do not inform users about their
information practices, or if they render users
personal information to third parties without the

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

permissions of users, SNS users may thus arouse

privacy concerns. Based on the above discussions,
awareness and control are considered as two
antecedents of privacy concerns according to SCT
(Dunfee et al., 1999).

ntecedents

wareness

Second, regarding the consequences of privacy

concerns, when SNS users provide personal
information to SNSs, they may anticipate that SNSs
will protect the privacy rights inherent to their
personal information. Consequently, users may
demonstrate a greater level of trust if they believe
that SNS service providers will protect their
information privacy and will not break the implied
social contract. Contrarily, SNS users may also show
a certain degree of risk if they suspect that SNS
service providers may breach the implied social
contract and thus violate their information privacy.
According to SCT, both trust and risk are thus
regarded as the consequences of privacy concerns.
By integrating the APCO and SCT, we were able to
design our research framework (see Figure 1).

rivacy concerns

H1

H2

utcomes
Trust

rivacy
Concerns

H5

Control

Risk

Control variables
Gender
Age
Types of SNSs

Figure 1. Research model

2.2 Research hypotheses

Prior literature has found that a number of variables

which were not included in our research framework
also have impact on individuals risk perceptions. For
example, Mohamed & Ahmad (2012) confirmed that
females were more concerned with information
privacy than males. Fogel & Nehmad (2009) reported
that males had significantly higher scores than
females in risk aversion perceptions. Rhodes & Pivik
(2011) found that gender and age influence an
individuals perceived risk when individuals are
engaged in risky driving habits. SNS users express
significantly more trust on Facebook than Myspace
(Dwyer, Hiltz, & Passerini, 2007; Fogel & Nehmad,
2009). Further, Sheehan (1999) found that males and
females significantly differ in how online practices
influence their privacy. Hence, to eliminate those
unknown influences, we have included three control
variables in the proposed model, namely gender
(Fogel & Nehmad, 2009; Sheehan, 1999; Mohamed
& Ahmad, 2012; Rhodes & Pivik, 2011), age
(Rhodes & Pivik, 2011), and also the types of SNSs
(Dwyer et al., 2007; Fogel & Nehmad, 2009).

2.2.1 The effect of awareness on privacy concerns

The present study defines the factor of awareness as
the degree to which the user is concerned about
knowing the SNSs information practices (Culnan,
1995; Malhotra et al., 2004), while privacy concerns
refer to an individuals concerns about any possible
future loss of privacy as a result of information
revelation to SNSs (Xu et al., 2011). In general,
consumers do not know that their personal
information was collected until they receive
unsolicited contacts as a result (Sheehan & Hoy,
2000). That is, consumers will not become concerned
about privacy when marketers collect and use their
personal information without informing them until
they are made aware in some manner of this prior
event (Milne, 2000). Similarly, SNS users may
perceive their privacy right is protected only if SNS
service providers can comply with the implied social
contract by informing users of their information
practices according to SCT (Dunfee et al., 1999).
Culnan (1995) found that consumers who are
unaware of name removal procedures from a mailing
list are less likely to be concerned about privacy than
consumers who are aware of the same. Debatin,
Lovejoy, Horn, & Huges (2009) reported that those
SNS users who were not familiar with privacy
settings were also more likely to not protect their
profiles. Further, prior studies (e.g., Malhotra et al.,

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

2004; Milne, 2000) have also investigated the

association between awareness and privacy concerns
and have affirmed that consumers awareness is
associated alongside privacy concerns. Consequently,
the greater the awareness of an SNSs information
practices are by the user, the stronger the privacy
concerns those users will have. Thus, the present
study hypothesizes the following:

concerns have a detrimental influence on ecommerce (Dinev & Hart 2006a, 2006b). Hence, it is
deemed important for organizations to find solutions
related to overall privacy concerns rather than simply
to ignore them. From a social contract viewpoint,
SNS users may trust SNS service providers to a lesser
extent if users believe that service providers have not
handled users personal information fairly (i.e.,
violating the implied social contract). In extant
literature, online information privacy is often viewed
as a negative antecedent to trust, rather than as a
direct influence on behavioral intention (Joinson,
Reips, Buchanan, & Schofield, 2010). For instance,
Shin (2010) affirmed that if users sensed that an SNS
safeguards their privacy, those users will have higher
trust in it as a direct result. Further, Van Slyke, Shim,
Johnson, & Jiang (2006) affirmed that concern for
privacy influences individuals trust whenever
shopping at Amazon.com. Extrapolating from the
literature to this study, it could be argued that
heightened privacy concerns should consequently
lower trust in SNSs. This study therefore states the
hypothesis:

H1: Awareness will have a positively influenced

relationship with SNSs users information privacy
concerns.
2.2.2 The effect of control on privacy concerns
Sheen & Hoy (2000) found that the notion of control
is an important dimension, as are related notions of
exchange and long-term relationships. In this study,
control refers to an individuals beliefs that they can
manage the circulation of their information (Xu et al.,
2011). According to the concept of fair social
contract, SNS service providers should empower
users with the decision as to how their personal
information is used; and, by giving users more
control, SNSs will alleviate users privacy concerns
(Phelps, Nowak, & Ferrell, 2000). Previous studies
(Culnan, 1993; Foxman & Kilcoyne, 1993) revealed
that information privacy will be perceived only when
individuals are given partial/full control over their
own information. Prior study (Phelps et al., 2000) has
also determined that control is closely associated with
consumers routine privacy concerns regarding
shared personal information. More specifically,
individuals perceptions of control over the
circulation of their information were negatively
associated with privacy concerns (Milne & Boza,
1999; Xu et al., 2011; Xu, Michael, & Chen, 2013;
Zhao, Lu, & Gupta, 2012). That is, individuals will
be less concerned about personal privacy given that
they feel they can control the dissemination of their
own information within limits set by the users
themselves. Thus, the second hypothesis postulates
the following:

H3: Privacy concerns will have a negative

relationship with individuals trust about SNSs.
2.2.4 The effect of privacy concerns on risk
Risk perception is an individuals beliefs concerning
the possibility of gains or losses related to the
acquisition of a product/service online (Mayer,
Davis, & Schoorman, 1995). Prior literature (Culnan,
1995; Phelps et al., 2000) asserted that the
information interchange taking place between
individuals and organizations serves to create an
implied social contract. One key point of such a
contract is that organizations will use and then
safeguard individuals information properly for some
form of mutual benefit. People with strong privacy
concerns may worry that organizations do not choose
to safeguard their information adequately enough to
fulfill the bilateral nature of this social contract. As a
result, this may further deepen individuals risk
perceptions when dealing with a specific online
organization such as a SNS. If SNS users hold that
SNS service providers choose not to realize promised
obligations stated in the implied social contract, users
may perceive that they are taking a significant risk
with their privacy rights. Previous studies (Malhotra
et al., 2004; Van Slyke et al., 2007) also provided
that privacy concerns heightened an individuals risk

H2: Control will have a negatively influenced

relationship with SNSs users privacy concerns.
2.2.3 The effect of privacy concerns on trust
This study defines trust as an individuals willingness
to undertake a level of risk while experiencing
uncertain circumstances (Milne & Culnan, 2004).
Users are extremely concerned about the disposition
of their personal information and these privacy

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

Malhotra et al., 200 ), control means an individuals

beliefs that they can manage the circulation of their
information (Xu et al., 2011), privacy concerns
depicts an individuals concerns about any possible
future loss of privacy as a result of information
revelation to SNSs (Xu et al., 2011), trust measures
an individuals willingness to undertake a level of
risk while experiencing uncertain circumstances
(Milne & Culnan, 2004), and risk means an
individuals beliefs concerning the possibility of
gains or losses as related to the acquisition of a
product/service online (Mayer et al., 1995).

perceptions. Hence, the present study proposes the

following hypothesis:
H4: Privacy concerns will have a positive
relationship with an individuals risk perceptions
about SNSs.
2.2.5 The effect of trust on risk
Culnan and Armstrong (1999) asserted that trust is
especially imperative to reduce risk perceptions
under conditions of information asymmetry, such as
when an individuals lack of knowledge about how
their information will eventually be used occurs. In a
social networking context, users who trust the service
providers are less likely to anticipate negative
outcomes when dealing with SNSs. But when
potential risks increase, such as when service
providers violate the implied social contract, users
trust may become a vital factor for initiating risktaking behavior. Numerous investigations (e.g.,
Jarvenpaa & Tractinsky, 1999; Okazaki et al., 2009;
Pavlou, 2003) suggest that trust influences risk
perceptions. Van Slyke et al. (2006) empirically
validated that individuals trust related to ecommerce websites lowers their risk perceptions
regarding those websites. From this literature, it is
obvious that one result of trust is that it will possibly
mitigate an individuals risk perceptions. Based on
the discussions above, the present study
hypothesizes:

The instruments for awareness and control utilized

three items respectively and were adapted from
Malhotra et al. (2004) and Dinev and Hart (2004),
respectively. The information privacy concerns
construct was measured by using four items found in
Xu et al. (2011). Trust and risk were measured by
using four and five items respectively and were
adapted from Malhotra et al. (2004). The original
questionnaire is in English and is not appropriate for
the target subjects. Thus, we used a back-translation
approach to ensure that the meaning of original scales
would be retained when translating the English items
into a traditional Chinese version. The English
version of the instrument was first translated into
traditional Chinese by one author, and then an
independent translator back-translated the Chinese
version into English. Original and back-translated
scales were then compared, and discrepancies were
revised and corrected between these two versions of
the questionnaires by three experts. A pretest was
then conducted to establish the scales via a
convenience sampling of 10 undergraduate students.
Modification of words and phrases were made to
items resulting in a final scale which was justified for
further testing.

H5: Trust will have a negative relationship with

individuals risk perceptions about SNSs.

3. Method
3.1 Measures
The questionnaire used in this study consisted of two
parts. The first part collects respondents
demographic data, and the second part deals with
their perceptions about awareness, control,
information privacy concerns, trust, and risk
perceptions. These research constructs were
measured using previously validated instruments.
Excluding demographic questions, all items were
based on a 5-point Likert scale (1 for strongly
disagree and 5 for strongly agree).

3.2 Sample and data collection

Since it is said that young people are most likely to
join in some SNSs (Hoy & Milne, 2010), focusing
research on young adults is especially important if
researchers are to obtain a better knowledge of how
SNSs are being connected to peoples lives.
Consequently, subjects in this study were
undergraduate students from a large university
located in southern Taiwan. Students enrolled in
various classes were invited to participate in the
paper-and-pencil survey after class since the
classrooms were not equipped with computers and
Internet connectivity. The questionnaires were

Based on APCO and SCT, the constructs employed

in our model includes awareness which refers to the
degree to which the user is concerned about knowing
the SNSs information practices (Culnan, 1995;

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

voluntarily administered to 400 students from March

1st to April 30th, 2012 by the authors. A total of 372
surveys were collected, of which 16 were deemed
unusable due to numerous missing data items.

4. Results
4.1 Descriptive statistics
Of the 356 valid responses, 56.5% of respondents
were female and 43.5% were male. Nearly 72% of
the respondents were 20-24 years of age. Further, the
majority were sophomores (50%) while junior level
students represented the fewest number of
respondents (8.7%). All respondents were said to
have profiles on SNSs and only 1.7% of them check
their profiles less than once per week, indicating
these respondents should have sufficient background
knowledge about the survey content. Finally, most
respondents use Facebook as their primary SNSs.
Details of the respondents are shown in Table 1.

Primary
SNSs
usage

93

26.1

Once each
week

94

26.4

Less than
once per
week

1.7

Facebook

352

98.9

Google+

1.1

4.2 Data analysis

The proposed model and hypotheses were
empirically validated utilizing partial least square
(PLS), supported by SmartPLS 2.0 M3 software
(Ringle, Wende, & Will, 2005). PLS was chosen
because of the collected data being non-normal,
whilst PLS makes no distributional assumptions
(Hair, Hult, Ringle, & Sarstedt, 2013).

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of respondents

characteristics
Profile

Several
times per
week

Items

Frequency

Percentage

Male

155

43.5

4.2.1 Measurement model

Female

201

56.5

<=19

91

25.6

20-24

257

72.2

25-30

1.7

>=31

0.6

Freshman

33

9.3

Sophomore

178

50

Junior

31

8.7

Senior

114

32

Several
times per
day

99

27.8

Once per
day

64

18

The measurement model in PLS is usually assessed

according to three tests: reliability, convergent
validity, and discriminant validity (Hair et al., 2013).
Reliability can be evaluated via factor loading,
Cronbachs , and composite reliability (CR) (Hair et
al., 2013). In the present study, the factor loadings of
all constructs (See Table 2) were above the threshold
of 0.7 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981), indicating sufficient
item reliability (see Table 2). Also the measure of
Cronbachs and CR were higher than the
recommended
0.7
thresholds,
demonstrating
sufficient reliability. For convergent validity, Fornell
& Larcker (1981) suggested that the value of average
variance extracted (AVE) of at least 0.5 reveals
sufficient convergent validity. As per this criterion,
the constructs used in this study demonstrated
sufficient convergent validity (see Table 3).
Furthermore, the inter-construct correlations matrix
(see Table 4) exhibits that the square root of AVE for
each construct was larger than the correlation of the
specific construct with any other constructs in the
model, thus indicating adequate discriminant validity
(Fornell & Larcker, 1981).

Gender

Age

College
status

SNS
profile
Checking

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

Table 2 Item-to-construct loadings

Item\Construct

Awareness

Control

Privacy concerns

Trust

Risk

AW1

0.86

-0.70

0.39

-0.02

0.38

AW2

0.91

-0.67

0.40

0.00

0.30

AW3

0.87

-0.62

0.45

0.05

0.32

CO1

-0.54

0.76

-0.29

-0.13

-0.19

CO2

-0.65

0.85

-0.35

-0.03

-0.29

CO3

-0.67

0.88

-0.46

0.08

-0.36

PC1

0.42

-0.41

0.81

-0.04

0.37

PC2

0.39

-0.37

0.85

-0.07

0.43

PC3

0.34

-0.33

0.83

-0.06

0.42

PC4

0.44

-0.39

0.86

-0.05

0.43

TR1

0.04

-0.01

-0.02

0.74

-0.10

TR2

-0.08

0.03

-0.04

0.79

-0.14

TR3

0.03

-0.04

-0.05

0.75

-0.06

TR4

0.05

-0.03

-0.09

0.81

-0.13

RI1

0.33

-0.33

0.42

-0.10

0.79

RI2

0.18

-0.21

0.31

-0.12

0.79

RI3

0.34

-0.31

0.43

-0.08

0.84

RI4

0.36

-0.30

0.39

-0.11

0.81

RI5

0.26

-0.22

0.40

-0.16

0.75

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

Table

Reliability and validity

Construct
wareness
(Malhotra et
al., 200 )

Control
(Dinev &
Hart, 200 )

rivacy
concerns
(Xu et al.,
2011)

Item

Factor loading

SNSs seeking information should disclose the way the data are collected, processed, and used.
good user online privacy should have a clear and conspicuous disclosure.

0.91
0.87

I would only submit accurate and personal information to SNSs if the site allowed me to control
the information I volunteer.

0.76

I would only provide accurate and personal information to SNSs if the site allowed me to
control the information they use.

0.85

I would only provide accurate and personal information at SNSs if their control policy is
verified / monitored by a reputable third party.

0.88

I am concerned that the information I submit to SNSs could be misused.

0.81

I am concerned that others can find private information about me from SNSs.

0.85

Note: CR: Composite reliability; VE: verage variance extracted

10

Cronbachs

VE

0.91

0.85

0.77

0.87

0.78

0.69

0.90

0.86

0.70

0.86

It is very important to me that I am aware and knowledgeable about how my personal

information will be used.

I am concerned about providing personal information to SNSs, because of what others might do
with it.
I am concerned about providing personal information to SNSs, because it could be used in a
way that I did not foresee.

CR

0.8
0.86

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

Table

Reliability and validity (cont.)

Construct
Trust
(Malhotra et
al., 200 )

Risk
(Malhotra et
al., 200 )

Item

Factor loading

SNSs would tell the truth and fulll promises related to (the information) provided by me.

0.7

I trust that SNSs would keep my best interests in mind when dealing with (the information).

0.79

SNSs are in general predictable and consistent regarding the usage of (the information).

0.75

SNSs are always honest with users when it comes to using (the information) that I would
provide.

0.81

In general, it would be risky to give personal information to SNSs.

0.79

There would be high potential for privacy loss associated with giving personal information to
SNSs.

0.79

ersonal information could be inappropriately used by SNSs.

0.8

roviding SNSs with my personal information would involve many unexpected problems.

0.81

I would feel unsafe giving personal information to SNSs.

0.75

Note: CR: Composite reliability; VE: verage variance extracted

11

CR

Cronbachs

VE

0.85

0.78

0.59

0.90

0.86

0.6

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

Table

Correlations between constructs

Mean

Standard
deviation

.2

0.70

(0.88)

Control

1.86

0.66

-0.75

(0.83)

rivacy
concerns

.20

0.69

0. 7

-0. 5

(0.84)

Trust

.28

0.77

0.01

-0.01

-0.07

(0.80)

Risk
.9
0.66
0. 8
Note: Diagonal elements within parentheses show the
square root of average variance extracted
( VE).

-0. 5

0. 9

-0.1

wareness

wareness

Control

rivacy
concerns

Trust

Risk

(0.77)

Table 5 Hypothesis testing results

4.2.2 Structural model
Hypothesis

A bootstrapping procedure was used to test the

statistical significance of each path coefficient. The
structural model results are depicted in Figure 2. The
structural model showed that four hypotheses were
supported and one (H3) failed to support (see Table
5). Overall, the model explained about 26% of the
determined variance in the risk perceptions. Further,
the effects of three control variables (gender, age, and
types of SNSs) were also tested, along with the
hypotheses. The results indicated that only one
control variable, types of SNSs, had a significant
effect on risk perception. However, the results
regarding the hypotheses remain unchanged.

wareness
-.22

rivacy concern
( 2 .26)

Control

H2:
H3:
H4:
H5:

TrustRisk

Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes

4.2.3 Common method bias

Since the study collected both independent and
dependent variables simultaneously from the same
respondent, common method bias might be a concern
(Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003).
First, the study randomized the items when surveying
the samples, which may also reduce common method
bias (Straub, Boudreau, & Genfen, 2004). Second,
the Harmans single factor test was used to ensure
that there was no significant method effect on the
proposed relationships (Malhotra, Kim, & Patil,
2006). We use exploratory factor analysis and found
that more than two factors can be extracted, the first
factor explaining about 33% of variance. Third, we
further adopted a marker-variable approach to detect
common method bias proposed by Liang, Saraf, Hu,
& Xue (2007). Most method factor loadings are not
significant (except two items for measuring control
and one for risk) and the ratio of substantive variance
to method variance is roughly 85:1. With the
insignificance and slight magnitude of method

-.12

.9

AwarenessPrivacy
concerns
ControlPrivacy
concerns
Privacy
concernsTrust
Privacy
concernsRisk

Supported?

**: p<0.01, ***p<0.001

Trust
( 2 .009)

-.06

.29

H1:

(t-statistics)
0.29
(6.15***)
-0.22
(4.89***)
-0.06
(1.69)
0.49
(16.94***)
-0.12
(3.29**)

Risk
( 2 .26)
-.05

Control variable
Types of SNSs

Figure 2. Structural model results

12

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

variance, the common method bias should not

become a serious issue in this study.

looking at their shared information because of a lack

of knowledge or familiarity with the specified
function.

5. Discussion and Implications

Furthermore, one of the major concepts of adopting
fair
information
practices
(Federal
Trade
Commission, 2000) tends to be a provision of control
provided to online users regarding the subsequent use
of information (Sheehan & Hoy, 2000). Hence,
besides authorizing users to control who can and
cannot view their profiles, SNSs should also
explicitly articulate how users information will be
shared with other interested parties and, more
importantly, to empower users to control whether or
not the SNSs can share their information with those
other parties if so desired. That is, users could protect
themselves through the effective use of privacy
control measures made implicitly available in SNSs.
Further, another suggestion is that SNSs designers
should create privacy controls that are easy to use and
even permit users to have their own rules of
information disclosure that may serve to prevent
personal information from leaking to non-related, or
malicious, entities and thus doing harm.

5.1 The effect of awareness on privacy concern

The results of hypothesis H1 supported the
proposition that there exists a positive association
between awareness and SNSs users information
privacy concerns. That is, the more users may wish to
understand about how SNSs handle their personal
information, the more privacy they are ultimately
concerned with.
The significant results of H1 might indicate that
SNSs should provide effective means for creating
users awareness throughout their privacy statements
and related information practices. Extant literature
suggests that most users are willing to share online
profiles/information given that privacy issues are
adequately addressed (Wang & Wu, 2014; Stutzman
et al., 2011). Although SNSs provide privacy
statements with which to inform their users, these
statements are mainly focused on what information
will be shared with other organizations, but it does
not delineate who can assess such information (Timm
& Duven, 2008). Further, privacy statements are
notorious for their difficulty to read (Stutzman et al.,
2011) and thus attract low usage and attention by
customers (Milne & Culnan, 2004). Consequently,
besides providing more explicit privacy statements
that are easier to read for their users, SNS providers
should present these statements in a more attractively
to increase their acceptance and understanding.

5.3 The effect of privacy concerns on trust

In testing hypothesis H3, the results failed to support
the proposition. That is, it was determined that users
privacy concerns do not have a significant effect on
their trust in the use of SNSs. This result is quite
surprising when taken on face value. Although
previous literature demonstrates an association
between privacy concerns and trust in e-commerce
context (Culnan & Armstrong, 1999; Van Dyke et al.,
2007), these results may not prove suitable within the
context of SNSs. A plausible explanation is that
despite SNSs providing evident privacy statements
on their web sites, they only assure users that the site
conforms to those lawful practices necessary to
safeguard users privacy, but that the disclosure does
not ensure that the given organization is trustworthy
(Blanger, Hiller, & Smith, 2002). Prior literature
(Friedman, Khan, & Howe, 2000) also suggests that
building trust online requires fulfilling many
characteristics. Hence, it can be construed that SNSs
users may be left to think safeguarding privacy alone
is not sufficiently adequate enough to trust SNSs; in
lieu of this finding, they may anticipate other
information practices to be in place such as security
measures to increase their trust perceptions (Shin,
2010). In other words, the expressions of privacy
found in statements made by the SNSs may not be

5.2 The effect of control on privacy concern

With regards to H2, the results supported a negative
relationship between the factor of control and SNS
users privacy concerns. That is, the more users are
able to exert control over their personal profiles, the
less privacy concerns users will have aroused. The
significant results of H2 might be used to imply that
SNSs should offer effective means for users to have
more control over their profiles in order to alleviate
those users privacy concerns. In terms of Facebook,
currently the default setting is that all friends of a
user can see the entire profile but that a user can also
restrict others from viewing that same profile.
However, most users do not know how to use the
privacy-protective settings that are provided
(Acquisti & Gross, 2006). In other words, they do not
alter the privacy controls to inhibit others from

13

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

useful to drive conclusions evincing trust in those

SNSs. This finding is important to SNS service
providers in that it suggests that a prominent online
display of privacy statements is regarded as
important, but when taken alone, these statements do
not ensure high trust perceptions among potential and
actual users. In fact, it has been indicated that SNSs
such as Facebook can not necessarily be trusted by
users (Dwyer, 2011) since only 4% of overall users
have expressed no reservations to trusting Facebook
completely (Acquisti & Gross, 2006).

usage may not be entirely within the control framed

by the user who provided the information initially.
5.5 The effect of trust on risk
In testing hypothesis H5, the results revealed a
negative relationship between trust and users risk
perceptions. That is, pre-existing levels of trust in
SNSs can significantly diminish users risk
perceptions. Thus, how to increase users trust in the
handling of their information by SNSs is undoubtedly
an imperative. Prior literature suggests various ways
to build online trust, including improving brand
images (Friedman et al., 2000; Hsiao et al., 2010) or
adopting programs or procedures with trusted third
parties (Shin, 2010). Since the trust relationship
between users and SNSs may be a key to obtainment
of future market share and commercial success,
building a higher trust relationship between users and
services is one important task that SNSs must fully
acknowledge in their own self-interest. Hence, it is
suggested that the SNSs should endeavor to promote
privacy-related activities, such as training or
education which go beyond basic postings of
disclosure statements, in order to improve their
public images. Further, new methodologies and
mechanisms for establishing trust should be
employed. When users become more trusting in the
SNSs efforts to secure users privacy, users risk
perceptions will be mitigated as well.

5.4 The effect of privacy concerns on risk

The results of hypothesis H4 supported the
proposition that there is a positive relationship
existing between SNSs users privacy concerns and
their risk perceptions. That is, the greater a sense of
privacy concern users of the SNS have, the sharper
the increase in the risks they will eventually perceive.
Accordingly, users may demonstrate protective
attitudes such as sharing minimal personal
information, restricting others to access their profiles,
or even providing intentionally fabricated
information, which will certainly influence the
vibrancy and vitality of the SNSs.
Undoubtedly, users privacy concerns are surely
important enablers for both their risk perceptions and
their reactions to SNSs mal-information practices.
Previous literature (Malhotra et al., 2004) argues that
perceived risk is important to an individuals decision
of whether or not to use online services. Even
unintentional privacy violations by organizations may
effectively increase consumers risk perceptions (Van
Slyke et al., 2006). In general, users with SNS
profiles have higher risk-taking attitudes and are thus
more comfortable with the potential risks associated
with sharing information on the Internet (Fogel &
Nehmad, 2009). However, there is still a requirement
for SNSs to take effective measures deemed
necessary to reduce users risk perceptions. The first
step is to reduce SNS users overall privacy concerns
in real terms. This study suggests that SNSs may
encourage users to recommend their adoptive privacy
protection behaviors since online users are easily
influenced by others online recommendations
(Hsiao, Lin, Wang, Lu, & Yu, 2010). Further, the
study also suggests that SNSs should clearly explain
that any agreement to share personal information may
induce some potential risks before the creation of a
new personal profile. Likewise, the limitations of

5.6 Theoretical and managerial implications

Our study contributes to the theory related to SNS
privacy by integrating APCO model and SCT. The
contribution lies in its combination of theories from
information systems and sociology. By using an
interdisciplinary lens, it is helpful for researchers to
obtain a better understanding of the relationships
among awareness, control, privacy concerns, trust,
and risk. Further, we consider awareness and control
as antecedents of, but not components of, privacy
concerns, and the results demonstrate the
relationships truly exist. This finding may shed some
light on the necessity of differing definitions of
privacy concerns according to differing contexts.
Also the relationship between privacy concerns and
trust is not supported which may indicate that trust is
more context-specific, such that SNS users trust
certain individual SNS service provider but not
others. Meanwhile, the present study also confirms
that privacy concerns and trust jointly influence SNS
users risk perceptions. Future studies can include

14

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

extra factors that are contrary to, but nevertheless

influential on, users privacy concerns thus further
advancing the knowledge on the formulation of
privacy concerns throughout.

In our study, it might be construed that Facebook

users perceive less risk than other SNS users. The
exact relationships of types of SNSs with other
variables remain interesting issues open to future
study.

Finally, this study assumes trust as an antecedent of

risk variable according to prior literature (Jarvenpaa
& Tractinsky, 1999; Malhotra et al., 2004) and
empirically validates the relationship. The results
demonstrate that trust predicts risk in SNS context
which proves the importance of the relationship
between trust and risk.

6. Conclusions and limitations

The purposes of this study are to propose a model in
order to investigate the impact of awareness and
control on SNS users privacy concerns and then to
understand how such privacy concerns and shared
notions of trust shape risk perceptions. One important
finding of this study is that SNS users regard that to
be aware of and to have direct control over personal
information disclosed in the SNS may relate to their
information privacy concerns in both a positive and
negative direction, respectively. Further, privacy
concerns and trust collectively influence users
perceived risk notions towards SNSs. However, the
influence of privacy concerns on trust is not
supportable.

In addition to implications for theory, SNS service

providers can also draw practical implications from
this study. The study proposes that awareness and
control as antecedents of privacy concerns truly exist.
The finding may further imply that fair information
practices (Federal Trade Commission, 2000) continue
to play a role in influencing users privacy concerns.
SNS service providers should pay more attention to
this issue to stem very erosion of their user base.
Since privacy concerns may seriously hinder SNSs
from proliferating, or even surviving intact, SNS
service providers could try to integrate these two allimportant principles into the design of the SNS in
order to reduce users ongoing privacy concerns.
More importantly, SNS service providers must ensure
that users are able to fully understand and then to
know how to use the privacy-protective features prooffered.

Several common limitations may exist in this study.

First, the sample is drawn from only one single
university and not from a more representative
sampling. Consequently, inferences to the larger
population cannot be safely made. Further, the survey
conducted in this study was based on self-report
rather than observation and the recording of
behavioral patterns in participants social profiles.
Further, we have only considered the first and the
second party of the expanded privacy model
proposed by Conger, Pratt, & Loch (2013, p. 405).
Future research could further cover the third and even
the fourth party when studying privacy issues in a
social networking context. Meanwhile, it is more
interesting to study actual behavior as the dependent
variable in privacy studies. Hence, future study may
try to capture this issue and may also consider the
influence of the privacy-paradox phenomenon.

Further, extant risk perceptions are the results of a

combination of privacy concerns and trust factors as
confirmed in the study. The results might indicate
that SNS service providers should be more cautious
since SNS users have increasing risk perceptions
leading to higher privacy concerns even if they still
voluntarily choose to share their personal
information. More importantly, the stronger the
relationship between privacy concerns and risk
perceptions is, the greater the suggestion is that users
privacy concerns remain important to SNSs usage
levels. Thus, the SNS service provider should
propose more effective means to reduce users
privacy concerns. Further, the SNS service providers
should engage in the trust-building process more
enthusiastically since trust can mitigate users risk
perceptions and increase usage.

7. Contributions
The results of this study add to the literature in
several ways. While adding to the current state-ofthe-art knowledge on the influence of awareness and
control on privacy concerns, the results are also
helpful to understand the extent of users risk
perceptions of SNSs in terms of their privacy
concerns and trust. First, this study lends support to
the notion that by empowering self-control to SNS
users and revealing more transparency over what is

5.7 Control variables

Of the three control variables, only types of SNSs
significantly and negatively influence risk perception.

15

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

happening regarding their personal information can

help protecting the privacy of SNS users (Weiss,
2009). Second, the results of this study illuminate
implications for the improvement of SNS service
providers throughout the industry to meet customer
expectations. Specifically, user provided information
is the most resource for SNS to improve their
services and also respond to competition in the
dynamic marketplace. Finally, the study also sheds
lights on privacy issues relating to SNS which are
less explored. More investigations may be required to
obtain a better understanding on privacy issues
regarding SNSs.

8.

9.

Acknowledgement
10.

This research and paper were supported by National

Science Council (Grant No. NSC-101-2410-H-214008) and I-Shou University (Grant No. ISU101-S04), Taiwan (R.O.C.).

11.

References
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Acquisti, A., & Gross, R. (2006). Imagined

communities:
Awareness,
information
sharing, and privacy on the facebook. In G.
Danezis & P. Golle (Eds.), Privacy
Enhancing Technologies (Vol. 4258, pp. 3658): Springer Berlin / Heidelberg.
Altman, I. (1976). Privacy A Conceptual
Analysis. Environment and Behavior, 8(1),
7-30.
Altman, I., & Taylor, D.A. (1973). Social
penetration:
The
development
of
interpersonal relationships. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston.
Blanger, F., & Crossler, R. E. (2011).
Privacy in the digital age: A review of
information privacy research in information
systems. MIS Quarterly, 35(4), 1017-1041.
Blanger, F., Hiller, J.S., & Smith, W.J.
(2002). Trustworthiness in electronic
commerce: The role of privacy, security, and
site attributes. The Journal of Strategic
Information Systems, 11(3-4), 245-270.
Brandtzg, P.B., Lders, M., & Skjetne,
J.H. (2010). Too many facebook friends?
content sharing and sociability versus the
need for privacy in social network sites.
International Journal of Human-Computer
Interaction, 26(11-12), 1006-1030.
Cespedes, F.V., & Smith, H.J. (1993).
Database marketing: New rules for policy

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

16

and practice. MIT Sloan Management

Review, 34(4), 7-22.
Chiu, C.M., Cheng, H.L., Huang, H.Y., &
Chen, C.F. (201 ). Exploring individuals
subjective well-being and loyalty towards
social network sites from the perspective of
network externalities: The facebook case.
International Journal of Information
Management, 33(3), 539-552.
Chiu, Y.T. (2013). Taiwanese attachment to
social media interests facebook, twitter.
Retrieved 20th March, 2014, from
http://www.zdnet.com/taiwaneseattachment-to-social-media-interestsfacebook-twitter-7000021142/.
Conger, S., Pratt, J.H., & Loch, K.D. (2013).
Personal information privacy and emerging
technologies. Information Systems Journal,
23(5), 401-417.
Culnan, M.J. (1993). How did they get my
name - An exploratory investigation of
consumer attitudes toward secondary
information use. MIS Quarterly, 17(3), 341361.
Culnan, M.J. (1995). Consumer awareness
of name removal procedures: Implications
for direct marketing. Journal of Direct
Marketing, 9(2), 10-19.
Culnan, M.J., & Armstrong, P.K. (1999).
Information privacy concerns, procedural
fairness, and impersonal trust: An empirical
investigation. Organization Science, 10(1),
104-115.
Culnan, M.J., & Bies, R.J. (2003).
Consumer privacy: Balancing economic and
justice considerations. Journal of Social
Issues, 59(2), 323-342.
Debatin, B., Lovejoy, J.P., Horn, A.K., &
Hughes, B.N. (2009). Facebook and online
privacy:
Attitudes,
behaviors,
and
unintended consequences. Journal of
Computer-Mediated Communication, 15(1),
83-108.
Department of Justice. (2010). The
computerized
personal
information
protection act. Retrieved 9th, January, 2013,
from
http://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.asp
x?PCode=I0050021.
Dinev, T., & Hart,P. (2004). Internet privacy
concerns and their antecedents-measurement
validity and a regression model. Behaviour
& Information Technology, 23(6), 413-422.

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

18. Dinev, T., & Hart, P. (2006a). Internet

privacy concerns and social awareness as
determinants of intention to transact.
International
Journal
of
Electronic
Commerce, 10(2), 7-29.
19. Dunfee, T.W., Smith, N.C., & Ross, W.T.,
Jr. (1999). Social contracts and marketing
ethics. Journal of Marketing, 63(3), 14-32.
20. Dwyer, C. (2011). Privacy in the age of
google and facebook. Technology and
Society Magazine, IEEE, 30(3), 58-63.
21. Dwyer, C., Hiltz, S., & Passerini, K. (2007,
9 August). Trust and privacy concern within
social networking sites: A comparison of
facebook and myspace" (2007). Paper
presented at the AMCIS 2007, Denvor,
Colorado.
22. Federal Trade Commisision. (2000). FTC
report to congress: Privacy online: fair
information practices in the electronic
marketplace. U.S.A.: Retrieved from
http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy2000/priv
acy2000.pdf.
23. Fogel, J., & Nehmad, E. (2009). Internet
social network communities: Risk taking,
trust, and privacy concerns. Computers in
Human Behavior, 25(1), 153-160.
24. Fornell, C., & Larcker, D.F. (1981).
Evaluating structural equation models with
unobservable variables and measurement
error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1),
39-50.
25. Foxman, E.R., & Kilcoyne, P. (1993).
Information technology, marketing practice,
and consumer privacy: ethical issues.
Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 12(1),
106-119.
26. Friedman, B., Khan Jr, P.H., & Howe, D.C.
(2000). Trust online. Communications of the
ACM, 43(12), 34-40.
27. Gross, R., & Acquisti, A. (2005).
Information revelation and privacy in online
social networks. Paper presented at the
Proceedings of the 2005 ACM workshop on
Privacy in the Electronic Society
(WPES'05), Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.A.
28. Hair, J.F., Hult, G.T.M., Ringle, C.M., &
Sarstedt, M. (2013). A primer on partial
least squares structural equation modeling
(pls-sem). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
29. Hoy, M.G., & Milne, G. (2010). Gender
differences in privacy-related measures for

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

17

young adult facebook users. Journal of

Interactive Advertising, 10(2), 28-45.
Hsiao, K.L., Lin, J.C.C., Wang, X.Y., Lu,
H.P., & Yu, H. (2010). Antecedents and
consequences of trust in online product
recommendations: An empirical study in
social shopping. Online Information
Review, 34(6), 935-953.
Huff Post Tech. (2011). Google CEO On
Privacy (VIDEO): 'If you have something
you don't want anyone to know, maybe you
shouldn't be doing it' Retrieved 30th, March,
2014,
from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/07/
google-ceo-on-privacy-if_n_383105.html.
Jarvenpaa, S.L., & Tractinsky, N. (1999).
Consumer trust in an internet store: A crosscultural validation. Journal of ComputerMediated Communication, 5(2).
Joinson, A.N., Reips, U.D., Buchanan, T., &
Schofield, C.B.P. (2010). Privacy, trust, and
self-disclosure online. HumanComputer
Interaction, 25(1), 1-24.
Laufer, R.S., & Wolfe, M. (1977). Privacy
as a concept and a social issue: A
multidimensional developmental theory.
Journal of Social Issues, 33(3), 22-42.
Lewis, K., Kaufman, J., & Christakis, N.
(2008). The taste for privacy: An analysis of
college student privacy settings in an online
social network. Journal of ComputerMediated Communication, 14(1), 79-100.
Liang , H., Nilesh, S., Hu, Q., & Xue, Y.
(2007). Assimilation of enterprise systems:
The effect of institutional pressures and the
mediating role of top management. MIS
Quarterly, 31(1), 59-87.
Malhotra, N.K., Kim, S.S., & Agarwal, J.
(2004). Internet users' information privacy
concerns (IUIPC): The construct, the scale,
and a causal model. Information Systems
Research, 15(4), 336-355.
Malhotra, N.K., Kim, S.S., & Patil, A.
(2006). Common method variance in is
research: A comparison of alternative
approaches and a reanalysis of past research.
Management Science, 52(12), 1865-1883.
Margulis, S.T. (2003a). Privacy as a social
issue and behavioral concept. Journal of
Social Issues, 59(2), 243-261.
Margulis, S.T. (2003b). On the status and
contribution of westin's and altman's

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

theories of privacy. Journal of Social Issues,

59(2), 411-429.
Mayer, R.C., Davis, J.H., & Schoorman,
F.D. (1995). An integrative model of
organizational trust. The Academy of
Management Review, 20(3), 709-734.
McKinsey & Company. (2013). Evolution
of the networked enterprise: McKinsey
global survey results. Retrieved 23rd,
March,
2014,
from
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business
_technology/evolution_of_the_networked_e
nterprise_mckinsey_global_survey_results.
Milne, G.R. (2000). Privacy and ethical
issues in database/interactive marketing and
public policy: A research framework and
overview of the special issue. Journal of
Public Policy & Marketing, 19(1), 1-6.
Milne, G.R., & Boza, M.E. (1999). Trust
and concern in consumers' perceptions of
marketing
information
management
practices. Journal of Interactive Marketing,
13(1), 5-24.
Milne, G.R., & Culnan, M.J. (2004).
Strategies for reducing online privacy risks:
Why consumers read (or don't read) online
privacy notices. Journal of Interactive
Marketing, 18(3), 15-29.
Mohamed, N., & Ahmad, I.H. (2012).
Information privacy concerns, antecedents
and privacy measure use in social
networking sites: Evidence from Malaysia.
Computers in Human Behavior, 28(6),
2366-2375.
Okazaki, S., Li, H., & Hirose, M. (2009).
Consumer privacy concerns and preference
for degree of regulatory control. Journal of
Advertising, 38(4), 63-77.
Pan, Y., & Zinkhan, G.M. (2006). Exploring
the impact of online privacy disclosures on
consumer trust. Journal of Retailing, 82(4),
331-338.
Pavlou, P.A. (2003). Consumer acceptance
of electronic commerce: Integrating trust
and risk with the technology acceptance
model. International Journal of Electronic
Commerce, 7(3), 101-134.
Pepitone, J. (2014). Zuckerberg rarely
mentions the word 'privacy'. Retrieved 20th,
March,
2014,
from
http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/07/technolog
y/social/zuckerberg-files/index.html.

51. Phelps, J., Nowak, G., & Ferrell, E. (2000).

Privacy concerns and consumer willingness
to provide personal information. Journal of
Public Policy & Marketing, 19(1), 27-41.
52. Podsakoff, P.M., MacKenzie, S.B., Lee,
J.Y., & Podsakoff, N.P. (2003). Common
method biases in behavioral research: A
critical review of the literature and
recommended remedies. Journal of Applied
Psychology, 88(5), 879-903.
53. Protalinski, E. (2011). Mark Zuckerberg:
Facebook users eventually get over privacy
anxiety. Retrieved 30th, March, 2014, from
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/markzuckerberg-facebook-users-eventually-getover-privacy-anxiety/1534.
54. Rhodes, N., & Pivik, K. (2011). Age and
gender differences in risky driving: The
roles of positive affect and risk perception.
Accident Analysis & Prevention, 43(3), 923931.
55. Ringle, C.M., Wende, S., & Will, A. (2005).
SmartPLS (2M3) (version 2.0 beta).
Hamburg, Germany. Retrieved from
http://www.smartpls.de/.
56. Sheehan, K.B. (1999). Investigation of
gender differences in online privacy
concerns and resultant behaviors. Journal of
Interactive Marketing, 13(4), 24-38.
57. Sheehan, K.B., & Hoy, M.G. (2000).
Dimensions of privacy concern among
online consumers. Journal of Public Policy
& Marketing, 19(1), 62-73.
58. Shin, D.H. (2010). The effects of trust,
security and privacy in social networking: A
security-based approach to understand the
pattern of adoption. Interacting with
Computers, 22(5), 428-438.
59. Smith, H.J., Dinev, T., & Xu, H. (2011).
Information
privacy
research:
An
interdisciplinary review. MIS Quarterly,
35(4), 980-1016. doi: Article
60. Smith, H.J., Milburg, S.J., & Burke, S.J.
(1996). Information privacy: Measuring
individuals' concerns about organizational
practices. MIS Quarterly, 20(2), 167-196.
61. Statistic Brain. (2014). Facebook statistics.
Retrieved 23rd, March, 2014, from
http://www.statisticbrain.com/facebookstatistics/.
62. Stewart, K.A., & Segars, A.H. (2002). An
empirical examination of the concern for

18

June 2014. Vol. 5, No.2

ISSN 2305-1493

International Journal of Scientific Knowledge

Computing and Information Technology
2012 - 2014 IJSK & K.A.J. All rights reserved
www.ijsk.org

63.

64.

65.

66.

67.

68.

69.

70.

71.

72.

73.

information privacy instrument. Information

Systems Research, 13(1), 36-49.
Straub, D., Boudreau, M.C., & Gefen, D.
(2004). Validation guidelines for is positivist
research.
Communications
of
the
Association for Information Systems, 13(1),
380-427.
Stutzman, F., Capra, R., & Thompson, J.
(2011). Factors mediating disclosure in
social network sites. Computers in Human
Behavior, 27(1), 590-598.
Taddei, S., & Contena, B. (2013). Privacy,
trust and control: Which relationships with
online self-disclosure? Computers in Human
Behavior, 29(3), 821-826.
Timm, D.M., & Duven, C.J. (2008). Privacy
and social networking sites. New Directions
for Student Services, 2008(124), 89-101.
Tsai, H.T., & Pai, P. (2014). Why do
newcomers
participate
in
virtual
communities? An integration of selfdetermination and relationship management
theories. Decision Support Systems, 57(0),
178-187.
Van Dyke, T.P., Midha, V., & Nemati, H.
(2007). The effect of consumer privacy
empowerment on trust and privacy concerns
in e-commerce. Electronic Markets, 17(1),
68-81.
Van Slyke, C., Shim, J.T., Johnson, R., &
Jiang, J.J. (2006). Concern for information
privacy and online consumer purchasing.
Journal of the Association for Information
Systems, 7(6), 415-444.
Warren, S.D., & Brandeis, L.D. (1890). The
right to privacy. Harvard Law Review, 4(5),
193-220.
Weiss, S. (2009). Privacy threat model for
data portability in social network
applications. International Journal of
Information Management, 29(4), 249-254.
Xu, F., Michael, K., & Chen, X. (2013).
Factors affecting privacy disclosure on
social network sites: An integrated model.
Electronic Commerce Research, 13(2), 151168.
Xu, H., Dinev, T., Smith, J., & Hart, P.
(2011). Information privacy concerns:
Linking individual perceptions with
institutional privacy assurances. Journal of
the Association for Information Systems,
12(12), 798-824.

74. Young, A.L., & Quan-Haase, A. (2013).

Privacy protection strategies on facebook.
Information, Communication & Society,
16(4), 479-500.
75. Zhao, L., Lu, Y., & Gupta, S. (2012).
Disclosure intention of location-related
information in location-based social network
services. International Journal of Electronic
Commerce, 16(4), 53-90.

19