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Despite concerns about digital privacy, little is known about emotional distress about data hacking and surveillance incidents. The purpose of this paper is to examine variables predicting anxiety about data hacking, and the role that such anxiety and other potentially important variables have in explaining the use of digital privacy protection behavior.

In total, 305 participants from an online labor market were sampled who frequently use the internet, surveyed about recent anxiety (using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 scale (GAD-7)), anxiety about data hacking (GAD-7, in reference to data hacking), and issues of digital privacy: news exposure, perceived importance, self-efficacy, protection behavior, and previous hacking victimization.

Profession (information technology-related) moderated the symptom structure for recent anxiety, but not data hacking anxiety. Using structural equation modeling, prior hacking victimization predicted anxiety about hacking. Digital privacy protection behavior was related to hacking anxiety and privacy self-efficacy. Data hacking anxiety mediated relations between hacking victimization and privacy protection. Privacy self-efficacy mediated relations between news exposure to hacking incidents and privacy protection.

Limitations include the self-report nature of the instruments, and use of a selective, non-random sample.

Results highlight knowledge, self-efficacy, and threat appraisal among IT managers in motivating better digital security practices.

This is the first study using a standardized instrument of anxiety to examine distress about hacking and predictors of digital privacy protection behavior.

First, the authors analyze the key problems faced by the protection of digital library readers' data privacy and behavior privacy. Second, the authors introduce the characteristics of all kinds of existing approaches to privacy protection and their application limitations in the protection of readers' data privacy and behavior privacy. Lastly, the authors compare the advantages and disadvantages of each kind of existing approaches in terms of security, efficiency, accuracy and practicality and analyze the challenges faced by the protection of digital library reader privacy.

In this paper, the authors review a number of research achievements relevant to privacy protection and analyze and evaluate the application limitations of them in the reader privacy protection of a digital library, consequently, establishing the constraints that an ideal approach to library reader privacy protection should meet, so as to provide references for the follow-up research of the problem.

As a result, the authors conclude that an ideal approach to reader privacy protection should be able to comprehensively improve the security of all kinds of readers' privacy information on the untrusted server-side as a whole, under the premise of not changing the architecture, efficiency, accuracy and practicality of a digital library system.

Along with the rapid development of new network technologies, such as cloud computing, the server-side of a digital library is becoming more and more untrustworthy, thereby, posing a serious threat to the privacy of library readers. In fact, the problem of reader privacy has become one of the important obstacles to the further development and application of digital libraries.

This study aims to identify the roles that privacy experiences and social media use play in influencing privacy-protection behaviors. As social media use expands in terms of the number of users and functionality; it is important to understand social media user privacy-protection behaviors and the users’ psychological underpinnings driving those behaviors. Among these, perceptions are the users’ evaluation of their privacy concerns and data sharing benefits inherent in social media use which influence the users’ behaviors to protect their privacy.

To research these issues, a theoretical model and hypotheses were developed, based on self-efficacy theory. The theoretical model was empirically tested using 193 questionnaire responses collected from students enrolled in business courses at a medium-sized university in the western USA. All the respondents reported that they routinely use social media. The empirical analysis was performed using structural equations modeling in PC SAS version 9.4, procedure Calis.

The estimation of the paths in the structural model indicates that privacy concerns positively influence social media users’ protection behaviors while the perceived benefits of data sharing negatively influence protection behaviors. Privacy experience positively influences privacy concerns. Alternatively, social media use positively influences social media self-efficacy and perceived usefulness, which, in turn, have meaningful influences on data sharing benefits.

Previous findings about the effect of self-efficacy on protection behaviors has been inconclusive. This study adds some clarity. Specifically, the findings suggest that the effect depends upon the foci of self-efficacy. While higher self-efficacy with respect to using privacy-related features of a specific technology tends to lead to greater privacy concerns, higher self-efficacy with respect to the more general technology (e.g. social media, computer) seems to affect protection behaviors through perceived benefits. Further, the results of this study offer conclusions about the roles that privacy experiences, social media use and perceived social media benefits play in affecting protection behaviors.

The purpose of this study is to examine privacy issues in the e-commerce context from a power-responsibility equilibrium theory (PRE) perspective.

The data was collected using an online survey (n = 335) from online shopping consumers. This study used partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) techniques to empirically examine the proposed relationships.

A lack of corporate privacy responsibility and regulatory protection can deprive consumers of privacy empowerment and damage consumer trust to trigger privacy concerns and subsequent defensive responses. Also, the fsQCA revealed five causal configurations to explain high consumer defensive behaviours.

This study identifies the importance of PRE theory in the privacy context. Consumer privacy concerns, privacy empowerment and trust are established as strong mediators between corporate/regulatory privacy protection efforts and consumer backlash. The application of fsQCA verified that consumer privacy behaviour can be better explained by different configurations of the same causal antecedents.

The findings highlight the importance of increasing trust and privacy empowerment as mechanisms to manage privacy concerns and consumer backlash through responsible organisational and regulatory privacy protections. The importance of balancing power and responsibility dynamics for maintaining a healthy information exchange environment is identified.

This study extends the PRE framework of privacy to include corporate privacy responsibility, privacy empowerment and trust. This is one of the first studies to explore both antecedents and outcomes of privacy empowerment. Also, the application of complexity theory and fsQCA to explain consumers’ defensive responses is novel to the literature.

Internet user privacy risks have been a topical subject with respect to consumers, corporations and governments. In line with the recent privacy scandals linked to social media, the aim of this study is to explore users’ privacy protection behaviors (PPB) on Facebook through the actions they take to protect their privacy, their underlying motives and the values behind these protective actions. Moreover, this study aims to address an unintended consequence of Facebook usage. Despite Facebook’s positive and uplifting goal of connecting people, consumers are forced to resort to specific behaviors to protect their privacy and well-being.

This study adopts an exploratory research approach by using a well-established qualitative technique: structured laddering interviews. In total, 20 in-depth personal interviews were conducted with the Millennials.

Results show that the process of privacy protection is initiated by experiences, uncertainty and literacy, rather than threats, which leads to concerns that trigger PPBs. The most common PPBs include: “Reflection,” “Avoidance,” “Intervention,” “Restriction,” “Control,” and “Restraint.” The underlying motives for the adoption of these strategies include: “Success,” “Security,” “Social Recognition,” “A World of Peace,” “Exclusivity of Self,” “Being in Control,” “Meaning” and “True Friendship”.

The present research adopts a transdisciplinary framework to help fill the gap regarding the interplay of PPBs on Facebook, the triggers of those behaviors and their underlying motives. It contributes to the service literature and practice as it provides insights into a growing area of interest, whereas more social media channels are being created and more services are using social media strategies to engage and interact with their customers. Finally, it addresses the growing need to consider the impact of technological services, including internet and social media, on consumers’ and societies’ well-being.

This study aims to investigate the development of adolescents’ advertising literacy and privacy protection strategies in the context of targeted advertisements on social networking sites (SNSs).

A survey was conducted among 374 adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age, and 469 young adults (18–25 years) served as a comparative benchmark.

Results indicate that advertising literacy increases progressively throughout adolescence, and reaches adult-like levels only by the age of 16. In addition, adolescents have an inadequate awareness of commercial data collection practices. This awareness slowly increases as a function of their age until it reaches an adult level around the age of 20. Finally, findings reveal that adolescents take little action to cope with targeted advertisements by means of privacy protection strategies.

This paper devotes much attention to the formulation of specific recommendations for EU policymakers and regulatory bodies. In addition, it also holds implications for advertisers (e.g. the need for more in-depth data protection impact assessments), social media providers (e.g. adolescent-friendly privacy policy) and social caretakers (e.g. achieving advertising literacy and privacy education).

This paper fulfills the need to investigate adolescents’ advertising literacy and privacy-protective behaviors on SNSs, and, in turn, directly translates these insights into recommendations that can underpin the rationale of regulatory or policy decisions on a European level.

Push notification service (PNS) is an important approach to distribute personalized information to users timely and is getting more and more popular. However, users' privacy concerns are a major inhibiting factor in their continuance usage of PNS. This study investigates the effect of privacy protection functions provided by PNS sites in enhancing users' perceived fairness on the basis of justice theory to mitigate users' concerns of information privacy. The mechanism underlying such influence on users' continuance usage of PNS comprises privacy concern and privacy-control self-efficacy.

Four scenario-based surveys are conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. The authors test the research model with a sample of 360 participants by ANOVA and PLS.

Results show that the proposed privacy protection functions have direct positive effects on users' privacy-control self-efficacy, negative effects on privacy concern and indirectly affect their continuance usage of PNS. Furthermore, the interaction effects between two approaches have different impacts on users' privacy concern and privacy-control self-efficacy.

This study provides some suggestions and guidance for PNS providers to design effective privacy protection technologies.

In the paradox of personalized services and privacy risks, what factors influence users’ decisions is considered an interesting issue worth exploring. The current study aims to empirically explore privacy behavior of social media users by developing a theoretical model based on privacy calculus theory.

Privacy risks, conceptualized as natural risks and integrated risks, were proposed to affect the intention of privacy disclosure and protection. The model was validated through a hybrid approach of structural equation modeling (SEM)-artificial neural network (ANN) to analyze the data collected from 527 effective responses.

The results from the SEM analysis indicated that social interaction and perceived enjoyment were strong determinants of perceived benefits, which in turn played a dominant role in the intention to disclose the privacy in social media. Similarly, trust and privacy invasion experience were significantly related to perceived risks that had the most considerable effect on users’ privacy protection intention. And the following ANN models revealed consistent relationships and rankings with the SEM results.

This study broadened the application perspective of privacy calculus theory to identify both linear and non-linear effects of privacy risks and privacy benefits on users’ intention to disclose or protect their privacy by using a state-of-the-art methodological approach combining SEM and ANN.

Search engines, the most popular online services, are associated with several concerns. Users are concerned about the unauthorized processing of their personal data, as well as about search engines keeping track of their search preferences. Various search engines have been introduced to address these concerns, claiming that they protect users’ privacy. The authors call these search engines privacy-preserving search engines (PPSEs). This paper aims to investigate the factors that motivate search engine users to use PPSEs.

This study adopted protection motivation theory (PMT) and associated its constructs with subjective norms to build a comprehensive research model. The authors tested the research model using survey data from 830 search engine users worldwide.

The results confirm the interpretive power of PMT in privacy-related decision-making and show that users are more inclined to take protective measures when they consider that data abuse is a more severe risk and that they are more vulnerable to data abuse. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of subjective norms in predicting and determining PPSE use. Because subjective norms refer to perceived social influences from important others to engage or refrain from protective behavior, the authors reveal that the recommendation from people that users consider important motivates them to take protective measures and use PPSE.

Despite its interesting results, this research also has some limitations. First, because the survey was conducted online, the study environment was less controlled. Participants may have been disrupted or affected, for example, by the presence of others or background noise during the session. Second, some of the survey items could possibly be misinterpreted by the respondents in the study questionnaire, as they did not have access to clarifications that a researcher could possibly provide. Third, another limitation refers to the use of the Amazon Turk tool. According Paolacci and Chandler (2014) in comparison to the US population, the MTurk workers are more educated, younger and less religiously and politically diverse. Fourth, another limitation of this study could be that Actual Use of PPSE is self-reported by the participants. This could cause bias because it is argued that internet users’ statements may be in contrast with their actions in real life or in an experimental scenario (Berendt et al., 2005, Jensen et al., 2005); Moreover, some limitations of this study emerge from the use of PMT as the background theory of the study. PMT identifies the main factors that affect protection motivation, but other environmental and cognitive factors can also have a significant role in determining the way an individual’s attitude is formed. As Rogers (1975) argued, PMT as proposed does not attempt to specify all of the possible factors in a fear appeal that may affect persuasion, but rather a systematic exposition of a limited set of components and cognitive mediational processes that may account for a significant portion of the variance in acceptance by users. In addition, as Tanner et al. (1991) argue, the ‘PMT’s assumption that the subjects have not already developed a coping mechanism is one of its limitations. Finally, another limitation is that the sample does not include users from China, which is the second most populated country. Unfortunately, DuckDuckGo has been blocked in China, so it has not been feasible to include users from China in this study.

The proposed model and, specifically, the subjective norms construct proved to be successful in predicting PPSE use. This study demonstrates the need for PPSE to exhibit and advertise the technology and measures they use to protect users’ privacy. This will contribute to the effort to persuade internet users to use these tools.

This study sought to explore the privacy attitudes of search engine users using PMT and its constructs’ association with subjective norms. It used the PMT to elucidate users’ perceptions that motivate them to privacy adoption behavior, as well as how these perceptions influence the type of search engine they use. This research is a first step toward gaining a better understanding of the processes that drive people’s motivation to, or not to, protect their privacy online by means of using PPSE. At the same time, this study contributes to search engine vendors by revealing that users’ need to be persuaded not only about their policy toward privacy but also by considering and implementing new strategies of diffusion that could enhance the use of the PPSE.

This research is a first step toward gaining a better understanding of the processes that drive people’s motivation to, or not to, protect their privacy online by means of using PPSEs.

The purpose of this study is to explore the effects of recommendation algorithm, product reputation, new product novelty, privacy concern and privacy protection behavior on users’ satisfaction and continuance intention to use short-form video application (APP).

Based on the existing theories, the research model of this study was developed and 445 valid data were collected through a questionnaire survey. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed for data analysis to test the research model and hypotheses.

The results reveal that the recommendation algorithm has a significant positive effect on user satisfaction, new product novelty and privacy concern. The influence of recommendation algorithm on privacy concern is negatively moderated by product reputation. Privacy concern has a significant and positive impact on privacy protection behavior, and privacy protection behavior has a significant and positive impact on user satisfaction. New product novelty also has significant impact on user satisfaction.

This study is one of the earliest studies to incorporate recommendation algorithm as a construct into the college students’ continuance intention to use short-form video APP. The influence of reputation as a moderator variable on the relationship between algorithm and privacy concerns is also investigated.