A Conceptual Model for Investigating the Effect of Privacy Concerns on E-Commerce Adoption: A Study on United Arab Emirates Consumers

Abstract

Online transactions have been reported to be hindered by privacy concerns. Although information privacy presents a threat to e-commerce adoption, cultural differences between nations can additionally impede this trend while raising people’s concerns about the privacy of their personal information. By removing geographic and time restrictions, the rise of e-commerce has completely changed how businesses interact with their clients. As a result, this research looked into how national culture affected the relationship between e-commerce adoption and information privacy in the United Arab Emirates. We suggested that, regardless of a society’s technological and economic infrastructure, privacy concerns and e-commerce adoption are influenced by cultural values. Our research model, which was validated using online survey questionnaires, was created employing Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Self-administered questionnaires were used in a quantitative strategy. A sample of 249 consumers was chosen, and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data. Our analysis revealed that key factors in people’s intention to transact online include their degree of perceptions of Internet safety, acceptance of e-commerce, privacy concerns, and personal interests. Additionally, the results show that gender has a positive effect as a mediator between the factors: “Privacy Concerns, Personal Interest, Safety Perceptions, and Transaction Willingness”. These results show how culture affects the adoption of e-commerce. Nevertheless, surprisingly, according to the research’s findings, privacy concerns were not indicative of cultural values, indicating that the idea of information privacy is more sophisticated than what a society’s culture represents.