Abstract
Consumers' privacy concerns remain the primary barrier for future growth of e-commerce. Research to date has so far considered privacy concerns either as an independent variable to explore consumers' actual (or stated) behavioural intentions (e.g. the decision to purchase goods online) or as dependent variable explained through a number of antecedents (e.g. privacy awareness). However, there has not been a formal link across antecedents, latent constructs and (stated) behavioural intentions. This study establishes this link through a stated choice experiment, and an integrated latent variable and choice model. The proposed approach simultaneously explains individuals' perceptions of privacy and general caution through observed individual characteristics and explores how these perceptions, in the form of latent constructs, may be associated with consumers' decisions to engage with an online transaction. The stated choice experiment is designed to collect consumers' choices across online retailers, a conventional store and an opt-out option in which online retailers are presented with varying levels of personal-information requirements. The data was collected come from over 500 respondents representing the online-user population in the UK. Model estimation results show that the higher an individual's privacy concern, general caution and technical protection, the less likely a consumer is to purchase a product online. In a joint model, the privacy concern variable is found to outweigh the effect of general caution and technical protection. Finally, consumers with higher levels of general caution are more sensitive towards an online retailer that shares their personal data with third parties.
Highlights
Consumers' privacy concerns remain the primary barrier for future growth of e-commerce
All models were estimated in Python-Biogeme (Bierlaire, 2003) and results were confirmed by re-estimation of the models in Ox (Doornik, 2001)
The Joint Integrated Choice and Latent Variable (ICLV) model is specified with the three latent variables Concern, General Caution and Technical Protection in the utilities of the Conventional Store and Opt-out alternatives
Summary
Consumers' privacy concerns remain the primary barrier for future growth of e-commerce. Potoglou et al / Journal of Choice Modelling 17 (2015) 10–27 benefit from lower prices and personalised consumer experiences such as purchase recommendations Access to such services requires consumers to disclose personal data raising threats around what and how information is collected, how it is stored and managed. With the exception of Dinev and Hart (2006) and Heirman et al (2013) there have been no other studies that link consumers' willingness to disclose personal information in e-commerce with latent constructs (e.g. privacy concern, trust, perceived risk) and how these constructs are associated with their antecedents (e.g. beliefs, socioeconomic characteristics of consumers)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
