Information Technology and Privacy: A Boundary Management Perspective

Abstract

With the rising popularity of the Internet and some widely publicized occurrences of privacy loss due to information technology, many individuals have recently become more concerned with the privacy and security of sensitive information. These concerns have special relevance within work organizations because of the substantial amounts of data that organizations typically collect about the work and non-work activities of their employees. This chapter presents a new theoretical perspective called Information Boundary Theory, that describes whether, when, and why employees care about the privacy and security of sensitive information at work. Analysis of interview data from N=25 non-managerial U.S. workers provided preliminary support for four of the new theory’s research propositions. The chapter describes implications of the theory and the research findings for the design and deployment of information technology systems within organizations and maps a research agenda for future uses of the theory.