Books and journals Case studies Expert Briefings Open Access
Advanced search

Information disclosure of social media users: Does control over personal information, user awareness and security notices matter?

Vladlena Benson (Department of Accounting, Finance and Informatics, Kingston Business School, Kingston, UK)
George Saridakis (Small Business Research Centre, Kingston University, Kingston, UK)
Hemamaali Tennakoon (Department of Accounting, Finance and Informatics, Kingston University, Kingston, UK)

Information Technology & People

ISSN: 0959-3845

Publication date: 3 August 2015

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to bridge the gap in the existing literature by exploring the antecedents of information disclosure of social media users. In particular, the paper investigates the link between information disclosure, control over personal information, user awareness and security notices in the social context, all of which are shown to be different from existing studies in e-commerce environments.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected and analysed data from 514 social network users. The model is estimated using ordinary least squares and robust standard errors are estimated using the Huber-White sandwich estimators.

Findings

The results show that in social networking contexts, control over personal information is negatively and statistically associated with information disclosure. However, both user awareness and security notices have a positive statistical effect on information disclosure.

Originality/value

Whilst research on issues of individual information privacy in e-commerce is plentiful, the area of social networking and privacy protection remains under-explored. This paper provides a useful model for analysing information disclosure behaviour on social networks. The authors discuss the practical implications of the findings for actors in social media interactions.

Keywords

  • Privacy
  • Social networking (e.g. Facebook
  • Second life)
  • Risk
  • Trust
  • Information sharing
  • Social computing

Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to the great work of the reviewer (s) which helped the authors to strengthen the paper tremendously. The authors enjoyed working on every constructive suggestion and would like to thank the ITP team for this enriching experience.

Citation

Benson, V., Saridakis, G. and Tennakoon, H. (2015), "Information disclosure of social media users: Does control over personal information, user awareness and security notices matter?", Information Technology & People, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 426-441. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-10-2014-0232

Download as .RIS

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Please note you do not have access to teaching notes

You may be able to access teaching notes by logging in via Shibboleth, Open Athens or with your Emerald account.
Login
If you think you should have access to this content, click the button to contact our support team.
Contact us

To read the full version of this content please select one of the options below

You may be able to access this content by logging in via Shibboleth, Open Athens or with your Emerald account.
Login
To rent this content from Deepdyve, please click the button.
Rent from Deepdyve
If you think you should have access to this content, click the button to contact our support team.
Contact us
Emerald Publishing
  • Opens in new window
  • Opens in new window
  • Opens in new window
  • Opens in new window
© 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited

Services

  • Authors Opens in new window
  • Editors Opens in new window
  • Librarians Opens in new window
  • Researchers Opens in new window
  • Reviewers Opens in new window

About

  • About Emerald Opens in new window
  • Working for Emerald Opens in new window
  • Contact us Opens in new window
  • Publication sitemap

Policies and information

  • Privacy notice
  • Site policies
  • Modern Slavery Act Opens in new window
  • Chair of Trustees governance statement Opens in new window
  • COVID-19 policy Opens in new window
Manage cookies

We’re listening — tell us what you think

  • Something didn’t work…

    Report bugs here

  • All feedback is valuable

    Please share your general feedback

  • Member of Emerald Engage?

    You can join in the discussion by joining the community or logging in here.
    You can also find out more about Emerald Engage.

Join us on our journey

  • Platform update page

    Visit emeraldpublishing.com/platformupdate to discover the latest news and updates

  • Questions & More Information

    Answers to the most commonly asked questions here