The construct of information privacy concerns in the Chinese cultural setting

Abstract

Purpose The significant cultural difference between China and Western countries, primarily the USA, suggests that it is necessary for researchers to take an emic approach to understand how the concept of privacy concerns is interpreted from the perspective of people from within the Chinese culture. However, all privacy concerns studies in the Chinese context have virtually adopted an etic approach. Therefore, this study aims to answer the following questions: What dimensions do privacy concerns encompass in the Chinese cultural context? What are the structural relationships among these dimensions? The authors answer these questions by conducting a mixed method research. Design/methodology/approach The authors first content analyzed Chinese news reports about information privacy and found that trading, management and awareness are relevant dimensions of privacy concerns. Further, the authors validated the three dimensions by surveying 185 Chinese consumers. Findings The data showed that Chinese consumers’ privacy concerns have a second-order factor structure, where the trading, management and awareness dimensions are first-order factors. Originality/value The results of this research contribute to the literature by developing the construct of privacy concerns that fits the context of Chinese culture and also point out possible managerial practices to mitigate Chinese consumers’ privacy concerns.