An Exploratory Study on Behavioral and Emotional Coping with IT-Enabled Government Surveillance

Abstract

Despite the growing literature on the notion of Data Privacy Concern, we lack an agreed upon conceptualization and operationalization of this overarching construct. The present paper argues that the concept of privacy is highly context-dependent and that its proper conceptualization requires the specification of the nature of the data involved, as well as the identity of the perceived data violator. Based on this idea, as well as Folkman et al.' s [1 1] eight ways of coping as a conceptual framework, we describe an exploratory study we undertook to examine individuals' behavioral and emotional coping approaches to online intellectual privacy and governments as potential violators of online intellectual privacy. A qualitative analysis of 206 online textual comments made by surveillance news readers led to the identification of three behavioral coping mechanisms, i.e., confrontive_B coping, enlightening and self-control, as well as five emotional coping mechanisms, i.e., delusional thinking, self-control, confrontive_E coping, escape-avoidance and positive appraisal.