Abstract
Information sharing via social networking systems (SNS) is a common practice among academics, as well as others, that brings substantial benefits. At the same time, privacy concerns are widespread among SNS users, which may tend to inhibit their maximising the benefit from using the systems. This paper investigates the proposition that SNS user attitudes and behaviour are affected by privacy concerns, and that the effects are subject to significant cultural factors. A broad assessment of the literature provides the context for the study. Working in the context of Saudi Arabia, we apply a mixed-methods approach beginning with in-depth interviews, exposing in detail a range of views and concerns about privacy and SNS use, also allowing us to identify three key factors that bear on SNS usage and users' concerns. Analysis of these factors in the light of the "theory of reasoned action" derives a structural model predicting several hypotheses relating the factors and users' attitudes and behaviour. We assess the model through development of a questionnaire, administered to a large pool of academic participants, that allows us to examine how the model responds in general, and via multigroup partial least squares analyses, differentially to gender and to culturally distinct (Arab vs. non-Arab) constituents of the participant group. Results show good support for the hypotheses and clear gender and culture effects. Picking up issues from the interviews, discussion focuses on users' views about SNS providers' privacy policies and their inadequacy regarding culturally specific ethical concerns. We argue that these views may reflect different regulatory environments in combination with other cultural factors.
Highlights
Practices of sharing information via social networking services are pervasive and very diverse
These factors are defined as follows: Personal Information Collection & Usage (PICU)–the degree to which a user is concerned about the risk presented by individual-specific information being collected and used by social networking services (SNS); Personal Information Control (PIC)–the degree to which a user believes they have control over their individual-specific information when using SNS; Awareness of Effectiveness of Privacy Policy (AEPP)–the degree to which a user believes that SNS privacy statements are important to understanding and accepting the safety of their information
The results show that PICU, PIC, and AEPP all have significant influence over individuals’ attitudes towards online information sharing behaviours, which subsequently affects users’ information sharing behaviours on SNS
Summary
Practices of sharing information via social networking services are pervasive and very diverse. By which huge amounts of information are shared for purposes ranging from entertainment to professional development. In this paper, with information sharing by academic users of social networking services (SNS), and there are very diverse practices even here, differences that may be individual or related to particular disciplines, etc. The reliability of information that is found via SNS is often in doubt: in the “post-truth” world, there is a constant battle against misinformation, especially in areas such as medicine [1]. Other concerns that arise around information sharing, and SNS use in general, involve issues of privacy. Attitudes and behaviours in relation to information privacy form the focus of this paper
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