Privacy concerns and actions to reduce privacy risks

Abstract

Most studies on the effects of privacy concerns examined social media behaviours. This research focuses on other privacy-protecting actions that people can take to reduce privacy risks. Responses to two surveys mailed to US adults living in four states were analysed to learn if privacy concerns were associated with seven actions that could lower privacy threats. Regressions showed that privacy concerns were not significantly related to most of the privacy-protecting behaviours. This suggests that privacy attitudes do not match privacy behaviours (i.e., a privacy paradox exists) and that self-reported privacy attitudes may overstate true feelings. Stricter regulations may not be justified by the privacy concerns that consumers describe in surveys. Most of the demographic relationships with the privacy-protecting behaviours from prior studies were not supported in the regressions, suggesting that some structural changes may have occurred in the profiles of the individuals who use these actions to protect their privacy.