Understanding the Impact of Household End Users' Privacy and Risk Perceptions on Online Behavior

Abstract

This chapter reports research concerning privacy, risk perceptions, and online behavior intentions on a sample of expert household end users. Findings include identification of (1) an e-privacy typology, consisting of “privacy aware,” “privacy suspicious,” and “privacy active” types, and (2) an e-privacy hierarchy of effects. Results suggest the presence of a privacy hierarchy of effects where awareness leads to suspicion, which subsequently leads to active behavior. Perceived risk was found to interact with the e-privacy hierarch and to have a strong negative influence on the extent to which respondents participated in online subscription and purchasing. A key finding was that privacy active behavior which was hypothesised to increase the likelihood of online subscription and purchasing was not found to be significant. The chapter concludes with a number of important implications for managers, and directions for future research are discussed.