Internet privacy concerns and their antecedents - measurement validity and a regression model

Abstract

This research focuses on the development and validation of an instrument to measure the privacy concerns of individuals who use the Internet and two antecedents, perceived vulnerability and perceived ability to control information. The results of exploratory factor analysis support the validity of the measures developed. In addition, the regression analysis results of a model including the three constructs provide strong support for the relationship between perceived vulnerability and privacy concerns, but only moderate support for the relationship between perceived ability to control information and privacy concerns. The latter unexpected results suggest that the relationship among the hypothesized antecedents and privacy concerns may be one that is more complex than is captured in the hypothesized model, in light of the strong theoretical justification for the role of information control in the extant literature on information privacy.