I will only know after using it: The repeat purchasers of smart home appliances and the privacy paradox problem

Abstract

Research shows that smart home appliance consumers face a privacy paradox – consumers have a high perception of privacy disclosure risk; yet this has no obvious influence on their purchase behavior. The privacy paradox problem may be exaggerated, considering that most existing research has focused on potential purchasers who do not have corresponding purchase and usage experience. For repeat consumers, their perception of smart home appliances is based on their real usage experience, so they may not have such a “privacy paradox” problem unlike potential purchasers. To verify this, this study divided smart home appliance consumers into potential and repeat purchasers, based on the technology acceptance model, and comparatively analyzed the differences in the influence of perceived privacy disclosure risk and other factors on the willingness to purchase smart home appliance. We found repeat purchasers did not have a serious privacy paradox problem. Potential purchasers have a higher perception of privacy disclosure risk of smart home appliances, but this did not influence their willingness to purchase. Conversely, repeat purchasers had a lower perception of privacy risk, which had a weak influence on their willingness to repurchase. While somewhat unexpected, this result shows that repeat purchasers’ perceived privacy disclosure risks and behaviors are more consistent. Moreover, perceived usefulness was the most important factor that impacted potential purchasers’ willingness to purchase, perceived ease of use was the most important factor for repeat purchasers. Collectivism plays an active role in reducing consumers’ perceived privacy risk of smart home appliances and improving perceived usefulness and ease-of-use.