The Role of Emotions in Shaping Consumers’ Privacy Beliefs about Unfamiliar Online Vendors

Abstract

The study of information privacy in e-commerce is still in its infancy. Current studies attempting to explain online consumers’ privacy-related behavior based on their general concerns for privacy, have had mixed results. In this study, based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, we assert that to better explain privacy-related behavior it is necessary to focus on perceived privacy protection (privacy belief) specific to an online vendor, when the vendor is unfamiliar to the user. This privacy belief is formed as a result of emotional responses to the consumer’s interaction with the vendor’s Web site (often for a short period of time). In turn, this belief along with emotions can have a significant impact on the decision to give personal information necessary to make the purchase. Thus, online vendors who rely largely on unfamiliar, first-time customers have to pay attention to consumers’ emotional responses to their Web site or risk losing them.