Importance of the reputation of data manager in the acceptance of connected vehicles

Abstract

With the known evidence that potential connected vehicle (CV) users are worried about sharing data because of the associated data privacy and security issues, this study investigates the importance of the reputation of the data manager (who collects, stores, and owns the data) of CV technology (CVT). Based on a questionnaire survey of 2400 US adults, this study asserts that the data manager's reputation has a significant impact on the public perception of data privacy and security issues in CVT along with overall CV acceptance. The results show that data privacy issues have a more negative impact on CV acceptance than data security issues. In addition, the reputation of a data manager has a bigger role in the eyes of the public in shaping their perception of data privacy in comparison to data security. Based on the results, the public considers data privacy as the responsibility of the data manager to protect their data from unauthorized/illegal third-party access, whereas data security is the technological strength of CVT to protect the data from hacking. Finally, it is recommended that CV stakeholders take actions to improve potential CV users' confidence in the privacy of data shared by disclosing the data management process, data privacy protection efforts, building public trust in the data manager, and introducing/enforcing laws regarding data privacy protection.