Influence of individual factors on concern for information privacy (CFIP), a perspective from Malaysian higher educational students

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of individual factors, that is demographic factors, self-efficacy, computer anxiety and internet literacy, on concern for information privacy (CFIP), especially in social networking and e-commerce in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 164 students in Multimedia University Cyberjaya and analyzed using statistical analyses.FindingsThe results of this paper indicate that most of the individual factors have significant relationships with CFIP, except age as one of the demographic factors, and internet literacy. One of the outcomes, which is continuance intention in social networking, has a strong correlation with CFIP.Research limitations/implicationsRegarding demographic profile, the statistics of age, income and especially nationality profile shows the imbalance distribution among the group categories. This might become an issue for generalization purpose.Practical implicationsThe empirical findings can be used as a guideline for firms to undergo a self-check in social networking sites and data over transactions in e-commerce activities. By focusing on those significant factors, firms may develop relevant strategies to enhance the social networking or e-commerce activities.Originality/valueThis paper is perhaps the limited study about CFIP in Malaysia, but it focuses more on social networking and e-commerce as the outcomes of CFIP.