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The purpose of this study is to investigate the structural relationships between a sense of virtual community (SOVC), community satisfaction, community involvement, community commitment and alternative attractiveness in the online fan community context.

This study gathered and empirically analyzed data from 277 members of the online Super Junior fan community with frequency, reliability, confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling (SEM) with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 20.0 and AMOS 24.0.

The findings of SEM indicated that community satisfaction was significantly influenced by the four dimensions of SOVC, while community involvement was significantly affected by membership and fulfillment of needs. Also, community commitment and alternative attractiveness were significantly impacted by community satisfaction and community involvement. Lastly, privacy concern moderated the paths from influence to community satisfaction and from community satisfaction to community commitment, respectively.

The findings of this study should help online fan community administrators to reduce members' perception of alternative attractiveness (other fan communities) and to understand how privacy concern influences members' attitudes toward the online community.

In light of the findings, a greater understanding of the determinants of community commitment and alternative attractiveness along with privacy concern is critical in retaining virtual fan communities' members over the long-term.

Via an initial trust‐building model, the purpose of this paper is to examine consumers' initial trust in an unfamiliar online retailer, considering cognitive perceptions of the retailer and institutional beliefs about the online environment.

A random sample of 2,000 US households, resulting in 477 usable responses, was surveyed by assigning subjects to one of the two shopping scenarios portraying an online insurance retailer with a weak or strong reputation.

Structural equation modelling revealed that second‐hand cognitive and first‐hand institutional information have comparable and contrasting effects on purchase intent through formation of initial trust.

Results imply that consumers form initial trust using a combination of cognitive perceptions about the online retailer and consumers' institutional beliefs regarding the online environment. Ways in which researchers and online retailers can shape initial trust formation via these antecedents are suggested.

The influence of an institutional belief, situational normality of the online environment, on initial trust has not been previously investigated by simultaneously assessing relative influences of institutional beliefs and cognitive perceptions of the online retailer.

The purpose of this paper is to revisit the internet users’ information privacy concerns (IUIPC) construct, a research model, and hypotheses based on Malhotra et al. (2004) to assess the continued applicability of this construct. The relationship among privacy concerns, trusting beliefs, and risk beliefs continues to be unclear. Empirical evidence about the impact of privacy concerns on behavior is mixed.

A paper-based questionnaire was distributed and collected from 63 part-time graduate students of a private university in the mid-Atlantic USA. These respondents have an average of six years of full-time professional work experience and the vast majority (88.9 percent) has over seven years of experience on the internet. Questionnaire items measured the constructs of the IUIPC instrument. All measurement scales were validated using factor analysis, Cronbach's α, and reliability analysis. For hypothesis testing, multiple regression analysis was used.

The results partially support those of Malhotra et al. (2004). Consistent are the findings that the higher the trust a consumer holds for an online company, the less likely that consumer is to view providing personal information as risky. Also consistent is that the higher the trust a consumer holds for an online company, the more likely is that consumer to intend to provide personal information online. Finally, the greater risk a consumer has for providing personal information, the less willing that consumer is to reveal such information online. However, the results did not support a negative relationship between the IUIPC construct and consumer trust in an online company or a positive relationship between IUIPC and consumer risk in providing personal information to an online company. The paper concludes that the IUIPC is not the valid scale to employ in measuring information privacy concerns.

The main limitation of the findings is the use of a small convenience sample, limiting the insights into interrelationships between various dimensions of privacy concerns and the generalizability of the results.

The results may provide guidance to online retailers in addressing the dimensions of privacy concerns related to trusting beliefs and risk beliefs.

IUIPC were measured using the IUIPC instrument. This responds to Malhotra et al.'s (2004) call to use the IUIPC scale and the associated research framework to further investigate consumer privacy concerns and the suggestion by Belanger and Crossler (2011) that more studies should explore this scale. Further, both Westin (1967), and Smith et al. (1996) recognize that privacy attitudes and concerns may change over time, providing motivation to revisit IUIPC.

This paper aims to examine motivations for young consumers' internet use, how these motivations relate to children's privacy concerns and, subsequently, children's willingness to disclose personally identifiable information.

The strengths of three common internet usage motives (information seeking, entertainment, and socializing) in predicting disclosure behavior are examined via survey research with a sample of children aged 10‐12.

Two of the motives – information seeking and socializing – are found to influence privacy concerns, which in turn, are shown to affect willingness to disclose information. Information‐seeking motivations were positively related to privacy concerns, while socializing motivations were negatively related to privacy concerns. Direct incentives are also found to increase disclosure.

The findings suggest that the uses and gratifications theory is useful for understanding children's privacy behaviors relating to information seeking and socializing motivations. Combining this with the varying levels of interactivity of websites that might satisfy various motives helps researchers begin to understand how particular motives may lead to increases or decreases in risky behavior; in this case, preteen disclosure of personal information.

Online privacy pertains to an individual’s capacity to regulate and oversee the gathering and distribution of online information. Conversely, online privacy concern (OPC) pertains to the protection of personal information, along with the worries or convictions concerning potential risks and unfavorable outcomes associated with its collection, utilization and distribution. With a holistic approach to these relationships, this study aims to model the relationships between digital literacy (DL), digital data security awareness (DDSA) and OPC and how these relationships vary by gender.

The participants of this study are 2,835 university students. Data collection tools in the study consist of personal information form and three different scales. Partial least squares (PLS), structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group analysis (MGA) were used to test the framework determined in the context of the research purpose and to validate the proposed hypotheses.

DL has a direct and positive effect on digital data security awareness (DDSA), and DDSA has a positive effect on OPC. According to the MGA results, the hypothesis put forward in both male and female sub-samples was supported. The effect of DDSA on OPC is higher for males.

This study highlights the positive role of DL and perception of data security on OPC. In addition, MGA findings by gender reveal some differences between men and women.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-03-2023-0122

This paper aims to explore the association between intangibility and perceived risk using a sample of North American households. This relationship is explored within two purchase environments, namely online and offline. The authors also investigated the moderating effects of privacy, system security and general security concerns when purchasing in an online environment.

The survey was delivered to 156 households in a small town in the Midwest and collected upon completion.

The perception of risk is increased when two negatively loaded pieces of information are processed simultaneously (i.e. product intangibility and privacy concern). Furthermore, system security was identified as the most relevant concern in e‐commerce.

The representativeness of the sample is limited. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

The results provide interesting insights about the generalizability of previous findings based on student samples, and show the importance of privacy concerns, system security concerns, general security concerns for those purchasing in online environments.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the business communication-related variables of reputation, communication quality and information sensitivity are mediated by trust and privacy concern to influence the privacy dyad (i.e. promotion- and prevention-focused privacy behaviors).

Regulatory focus theory (RFT) is used to build a framework to examine antecedents of promotion- and prevention-focused privacy behaviors as well as mediators of these relationships. Hypotheses were tested using a 2 (firm reputation: strong/weak)×3 (communication quality: high/neutral/low)×2 (data sensitivity: high/low) between-subjects factorial design.

The findings support the proposed model. Specifically, high reputation and communication quality increased promotion-focused behaviors and were mediated by trust. In contrast, low communication quality and high data sensitivity increased prevention-focused behaviors and were mediated by privacy concern. Consistent with RFT, higher trust led to promotion-focused behaviors such as willingness to invest in the relationship (e.g., by providing information to the service provider and investing time and energy) and loyalty behaviors. Furthermore, higher privacy concerns led to prevention-focused behaviors such as deflective (e.g., using privacy protection measures such as disguising one’s IP address and disabling cookies) and defensive behaviors (e.g., taking action to have one’s name removed from mailing lists).

This study contributes to the literature on customer relationship management, RFT and trust and privacy in an online context.

Shopping online is a fast-growing phenomenon. A look into the rapid exponential growth of the primary players in this sector shows huge market potential for e-commerce. Given the convenience of internet shopping, e-commerce is seen as an emerging trend among consumers, specifically the younger generation (Gen Y). The popularity of e-commerce and online shopping has captured the attention of e-retailers, encouraging researchers to focus on this area. This paper aims to examine the relationship between online repurchase intention and other variables such as security, privacy concerns, trust and ease of use (EOU), mediated by e-satisfaction.

A self-administered survey method is used, and students aged between 20 and 35 years at universities in northern India are selected as subjects. To test the hypotheses of this study, an online questionnaire is distributed to participants, with 309 legitimate responses received. The data are analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 and AMOS version 20.0. Structural equation modeling is used to examine the model and to test the hypotheses.

The results of this study show that security, privacy concerns, trust and EOU have a positive significant relationship with repurchase intention. The findings also reveal that e-satisfaction has a full mediation effect between security and repurchase intention and also between trust and repurchase intention. In addition, a partial mediation effect of e-satisfaction is noted between EOU and repurchase intention and between privacy concerns and repurchase intention.

The results show that security, trust, EOU and privacy concerns are the factors that have most impact on consumer purchasing behavior. In terms of the repurchase intention of Gen Y consumers, what is needed are strong security features, an easy-to-use interface, a trusted privacy policy and the creation of trust. Furthermore, it may be beneficial to observe e-satisfaction as a mediator when identifying potential problems; online satisfaction is important for the group in this study, and the results show that it impacts on the relation between repurchase intention and other factors.

In terms of the repurchase intention of Gen Y consumers, what is needed are strong security features, an easy-to-use interface, a trusted privacy policy and the creation of trust. Furthermore, it may be beneficial to observe e-satisfaction as a mediator when identifying potential problems; online satisfaction is important for the group in this study, and the results show that it impacts on the relation between repurchase intention and other factors.

This research determines the impact of security, privacy concerns, EOU and trust on the online repurchasing behavior of Gen Y in India. The mediation effect of e-satisfaction is also determined.

The paper aims to examine ways to reduce privacy risk and its effects so that adoption of e‐services can be enhanced.

Consumers that form a viable target market for an e‐service are presented with the task of experiencing the e‐service and expressing their attitudes and intentions toward it. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the responses.

The paper finds that consumer beliefs that the e‐service will be easy to use and that the e‐service provider is credible and capable reduce privacy risk and its effects, thus enhancing adoption likelihood.

The focus on a financial services product (online bill paying) suggests that similar research should be conducted with other high‐risk e‐services (such as those dealing with healthcare) and lower‐risk e‐services (such as subscription services and social networks).

In addition to addressing consumers' privacy risk directly, e‐service providers can also reduce privacy risk and its effects by enhancing corporate credibility and perceived ease of use of the service. Increased assessments of privacy risk perceptions and efforts to reduce those perceptions will likely yield higher usage rates for e‐services.

The use of the technology acceptance model from information systems research, combined with a multi‐faceted conceptualization of privacy risk, moves the examination of privacy risk to a higher level, particularly in light of the examination of the additional factors of perceived ease of use and corporate credibility.

This paper aims to investigate behavioural changes related to self-censorship (SC) in social networking sites (SNSs) as new methods of online surveillance are introduced. In particular, it examines the relationships between SC and four related factors: privacy concerns (PC), privacy awareness (PA), perceived vulnerability (PV) and information management (IM).

A national wide survey was conducted in the UK (N = 519). The data were analysed to present both descriptive and inferential statistical findings.

The level of online SC increases as the level of privacy concern increases. The level of privacy concern increases as the levels of PA and PV increase and the level of effective IM decreases.

This study extends the literature on online SC, showing that PCs increase the level of SC in SNSs. It provides support for three antecedent factors to PC which impact upon levels of SC when communicating in SNSs.