EXPLORING THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: THE ROLE OF PRIVACY RISK AND TRUSTWORTHINESS

Transcription

1 EXPLORING THE NEGATIVE SIDE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES: THE ROLE OF PRIVACY RISK AND TRUSTWORTHINESS 1 DAUW-SONG ZHU, 2 ZUI CHIH LEE, 3 CHEN-WEN CHUNG 1,3 Department of Business Administration, National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan, R.O.C. 2 Department of Management, Susquehanna University, U.S.A. 1 dswu@mail.ndhu.edu.tw, 2 leez@susqu.edu, 3 d @gms.ndhu.edu.tw Abstract- Online social marketing has become an important and widely used source of information. With fast growing advertisement market through social website, the violation of privacy is getting its position as a significant concern when growing online technical convenience. This research paper examines the relationship between users perception of an SNS s (Social Networking Site) trustworthiness and privacy risk with their intention to use the site. The results of this study indicated that the intention to use SNS was positively influenced by the attitude towards use, perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), subjective norms, and behavioral control. The indirect negative impact of perceived privacy risk on the intention to use was approved. Attitude toward use, perceived ease of use, subjective norms, perceived behavioral controls, and privacy risk also have positive impacts on intention to use. The mediating effects of perceived ease of use, attitude toward use, and subjective norms were also examined in this study. Keywords- Information Privacy, Social Networking, Risk, Online, Trust, Social Norm. I. INTRODUCTION SNSs, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, are defined as sites where users can create virtual identities for themselves [1]. In its initial public offering, Facebook announced that by the end of December, 2011 the volume of active monthly users was 845 million and the number of active daily users was 483 million. Fully 71% American online American adults use Facebook, a proportion unchanged from August SNSs such as Facebook or Twitter have become significant media that people use to follow the daily news of friends and family as well as a significant promotional tool for business. Ninety-three percent of Facebook users said they were Facebook friends with family members (beyond parents or children) in Wordof-mouth marketing within a familiar community seems to be a significant alternative for consumers when they are seeking the best purchase online. However, concerns over data security and invasion of privacy also emerged with the fast growth of these SNS such as Facebook, Twitter, and WeChat as they involved themselves more in consumers daily webbrowsing. Few studies have investigated the influence of perceived control on privacy risk and security. These trends have motivated research to explore what factors influence consumer web-browsing behavior and attitudes toward SNSs as well as their recognition of the risks with this manner of public or semi-public personal disclosure. II. CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT Boyd and Ellison [2] defined a Social Network Site (SNS) as a web-based services platform that allows individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those of others within the system. Business continued work on technology to enhance medium convenience of online activities and companies dedication on information collection about online consumers reaction toward privacy, including personal identifiers and anonymous information. There is growing concern about the information about consumers shared without their consent, more than 40% online SNS sharing with private information, which made users vulnerable to scams and identity theft. SNS users have a natural intention/inclination to post personal information online, however, how much information that unauthorized people can also access intentionally is critical to users evaluation of SNS firms security. For dealing with competition, identity theft and privacy invasion have become a raising business issue to SNS firms to sustain their customer base. There are many ethical debates about the SNS security and privacy protection through both settings features and privacy policies during consumers information sharing. Online security is regarded as a critical aspect of business ethics in online and offline channels [3]-[5]. Consumers further concerns such as who has right to share information on SNS or if companies can share and use personal information determined their comforts to share more personal details. Which party actually owned the rights to personal SNS information has been an ethical concern raised by security design and information sharing which determine consumers perceived ethics and their behavioral usage on SNS. Therefore, a deeper understanding of users security of information sharing and browsing intention has insight to online and office businesses on ethical issues for better site design. This study is focus on the impacts of consumers privacy risk, their behavioral control of information sharing, and perceived trust on their information-sharing behaviors on SNS sites. 6

2 2.1. Theory of Reasoned Action The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) which later adapted in Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) that specifies two beliefs, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use to predict attitudes towards usage intentions and technology usage. TAM and TRA became more significant in prediction capability with intention included [6]-[8] Theory of Planned Behavior Ajzen [9] proposed the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), which was developed from the Theory of Reasoned Action [6]. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) utilized subjective norms and attitudes to predict consumers intended and actual behaviors. However, this theory assumed that people s behaviors are independently self-controlled. However, stronger attitudes and subjective norms lead to stronger intentions for actual behavior. The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) has been applied broadly as a fundamental and influential theory and to predict an individual s behavioral intention with consideration for the significance of attitude and subject norms. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) have been applied to examine online consumer behavior, entertainment websites, and digital management. Taylor and Todd [10] combined TAM and TPB models to prove the factors such as attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control will drive an individual s intention and actual behavior to adopt new technology and information systems Attitude Actual behaviors are predicted by consumer attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control [6]. Consumers beliefs and emotions toward a specific product or service shape their attitudes toward its value and what attributes they find valuable such as design, convenience, and status. Positive attitudes drive consumers intentions to further consider a purchase. Attitude as an individual s positive and negative evaluations of things, actions, and people. Affective evaluation drives an individual s behavioral intentions and potential actions. Users positive attitudes toward SNS such as Facebook may encourage their intention to conduct an information search and website browsing through this channel for actual purchase. Attitude and satisfaction are the greatest factors in influencing continuance intention of using Facebook [11]. Intention to Use Social networking People are more likely to use technology if they have positive intentions towards it [7], [8]. Negative attitudes toward SNS lead negatively influence for users to continue usage of that site. Privacy risk in SNS could negatively impact user intention [5] Subjective Norms A broad definition of a subjective norm is the perceived social pressure to perform or to refrain from a behavior [6], [12]. It is an individual's perception of how important it is that he or she should meet others beliefs. The degree of the opinion s impact depends on how far an individual wants to comply with the wishes of the reference, which also implies this person s preference and attitudes toward their behavior [13]. The opinions of one s parents, brothers, sisters, and friends are also taken into account when planning whether to do the action or not. If someone thinks their relatives and friends approve of an idea, the behavioral intention would be enhanced. Whereas, if someone thinks that their relatives and friends are opposed to an idea, the behavioral intention would be diminished. In terms of SNS, the number of friends on any particular SNS becomes a significant predictor of motives [1] Perceived Behavioral Control Ajzen [9, 12] believes that perceived behavioral control refer to people s perceptions of their ability to perform a given behavior. Perceived control comes from a belief that people have control over the environment, digital or otherwise [13]. There are three central, interconnected aspects that compose the theory of perceived control: behavioral, cognitive, and decisional [14]. Behavioral control refers to an individual s aptitude to change or control an event, whereas cognitive control refers to the belief that an individual has about understanding their control over an event [5]. Decisional control is the expectation that an individual can have a desirable outcome from attempting to control an event [15]. Perceived control is different from actual control because perceived control is that an individual defines how easy or difficult performing a behavior will be for them [5]. Actual control may exceed this, match this, or fall short of this. Research has shown that there is a link between perceived and actual control with emotion and behavior in youth problems [16]. Youth who have high perceived control but low actual control tend to be more anxious than those with high control of both perceived and actual. Youth often have high perceived or illusory control of SNS, especially Facebook [17]. A study by Liu et al. [18] showed that privacy settings on Facebook match the perceived privacy settings of users, only 37% of the time. Thus, perceived control is an important factor in predicting SNS usage behaviors since it alleviates privacy concerns in regards to personal information. While SNS allow users to control their information and privacy settings, many users do not understand to what extent their information is controlled [19]. Perceived control will be enhanced when people believe they can perform the behavior well or have enough resources and chances of performing the behavior. On the other hand, people may decide not 7

3 to do a specific task when they realize their perceived control is insufficient with their past experiences (e.g., time, skills, and knowledge). Therefore, we assume that when an individual thinks they have the ability to control their behavior when using Facebook, their behavioral intention of using Facebook will be positively enhanced. Perceived behavioral control has a direct impact on behavioral intention, i.e. perceived control of a SNS will affect the intention to use that SNS [5]. Teenagers intention to post on SNS can be predicted by their trust and privacy toward a site [20]. Thus, privacy regulation from the site examines how users from social networking sites (SNSs) deal with their medical information between withholding and disclosing personal information [21]. They indicated that people who spend more time on Facebook and who have changed their privacy settings more frequently have more online privacy literacy. People with more online privacy literacy, in turn, felt more secure on Facebook and implemented more social privacy settings. Privacy literacy as a mediator lead consumer better perceived control and feel safe and privacy-enhancing online behavior. Consequently, this research proposes the following hypotheses: H 1 : SNS users attitude has a positive effect on behavioral intention of using Facebook. H 2 : SNS users subjective norm has a positive effect on behavioral intention of using Facebook. H 3 : SNS users perceived behavior control has a positive effect on behavioral intention of using Facebook Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of Use Davis et al. [8] indicated that the fundamentals of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) could be used to understand the influence of the technology factors towards users inner factors, such as belief, attitude and intention. They also suggest how these inner factors influenced consumer use of the technology. Davis [7] defined perceived ease-of-use as the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free from effort. Perceived usefulness is the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his/her job performance. Perceived ease-of-use and perceived usefulness both drive people s attitudes towards their intention and behavior to technology usage. Perceived ease-of-use also directly influences user s perceived usefulness. Consumers intend to use a specific technology system when they believe this new technology or system could enhance their job performance; on the other hand, the negative attitude can happen. SNS users may like to use a specific site when they recognize higher ease-of use and usefulness during their browsing period. Furthermore, perceived usefulness toward the function of the website may also enhance positive attitudes and intention to use a SNS. H 4 : There is a positive relationship between perceived usefulness and behavioral intention. H 5 : There is a positive relationship between perceived usefulness and attitude toward the SNS. H 6 : There is a positive relationship between perceived ease of use and attitude toward SNS. H 7 : There is a positive relationship between perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use Trust Trust as the basic assumption of business contracts [22]-[25]. Online trust formulated its impact to determine users perceived usefulness to further decide if social network presents the advantage during consumers online shopping [22]. Users positive experience or impression make them easy to try and also formulates the perceived ease of SNS for their online purchase [22, 26]. Efficient usage has been regarded as an important reason to motivate consumers to adopt a new program to solve their task. Reliable experiences from new programs enhanced consumer intention to use new tax report programs, which also raised their trust toward the program and system. Consumers perceived trust will effectively reduce their uncertainty when disclosing and seeking healthrelated information on SNS [27]. E-store social presence with media richness significantly drives customers trust and behavioral intentions toward retailers, which also further reduce their perceived risk during their privacy disclosure [28]. In TPB model, perceived trust determines user s attitude and behavioral intention [23, 29]. Users are more willing to conduct more personal transactions through the SNS when their perceived trust toward SNS is positive [30]. Positive comments from consumers became significant references with their trust toward a specific SNS. Trust then has a positive impact on user willingness to share information on SNS [1]. H 8 : There is a positive relationship between user s trust and usage attitude. H 9 : There is a positive relationship between the trust of users of SNS and Subjective Norm. H 10 : There is a positive relationship between the trust of users of SNS and perceived behavior control. H 11 : There is a positive relationship between perceived ease of use and trust among users of SNS. H 12 : There is a positive relationship between the trust of users of SNS and perceived usefulness. H 13 : There is a positive relationship between the trust of users of SNS and behavioral intention Perceived Privacy Risk Privacy risk is defined as an individual s interests and abilities in controlling the handling of data about themselves [31]. Perceived control has been found to 8

4 be negatively related to perceived privacy risk and attitude toward information sharing, which in turn has an impact on their information-sharing behaviors and gender has been shown to be an important factor that moderates the influences of both perceived control and perceived privacy risk on SNS users attitudes toward information sharing [5]. Users control with their information and privacy on SNS enhance their perceived trust toward site, thus perceive there to be a low privacy risk [32]. Security risk is the loss when online data or resources are destroyed, revealed, or improperly changed, and services are denied [33]. Security risk is the main obstacle for online banking. The risk factors of online banking by Zhu et al. [34] pointed out the negative relationship between consumer attitude and the perceived risk. The risk is quantified by a national survey conducted by Consumer Reports National Resarch Center in 2010 that revealed that more than 40% of SNS users share private information virtually, making them vulnerable to scams and identity theft [5]. Users awareness of risks disrupts their willingness to disclose private information to SNS [1]. Risk awareness and likelihood of the privacy disclosure are highly affected by factors such as gender, motivation for using SNS, profile photos, and age [1]. SNS providers dedication to secure their users private information to increase trust, decrease privacy risk will attract more users [5]. Bergstrom [35] indicated correlation between personal privacy and online trust, which became a significant concern for consumer s online perception. Taddei and Contena [36] indicated the effect of the interaction between privacy concerns and trust on online self-disclosure. Perceived control enhanced consumer trust in SNS. Thus, this perceived trust reduces perceived privacy risk H 14 : There is a negative relationship between the trust of users of SNS and perceived privacy risk. H 15 : There is a negative relationship between the perceived privacy risk and usage attitude. H 16 : There is a negative relationship between the perceived privacy risk and behavioral intention. Fig.1. Theoretical model and hypotheses 9 III. METHODOLOGY This research is conducted to examine the effects from trust and privacy risk on the behavioral intention to SNS of users. The investigation includes the measurement of variables, basic personal information, and experience of using SNS activities. Question items refer to the previous research and invite students who had at least two years of Facebook experience to a pilot survey to verify the precise meaning for each question item. Sixty-five pre-test questionnaires were collected and we received 61 complete questionnaires with total of 60 valid questionnaires. Reliability and validity analysis was examined for the final questionnaire. All questionnaire items would be measured by the 7- point Likert scale (1: strongly disagree 7: strongly agree). Convenience sampling was conducted to examine respondents who used Facebook. The online survey was conducted on the mysurvey website. ( We collected 384 responses, with a total of 290 valid responses, and a valid response rate of 75.5%. IV. DATA ANALYSIS Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted using the full information maximum-likelihood estimation procedure through LISREL 8.8. The full model had a χ² test-statistic of (d.f. = 273; p <.000), and fit indexes were GFI=0.95, NFI=0.96 and CFI=0.98. The model s RMSEA index is 0.038, indicating an acceptable model fit for the data. A positive relationship was found between consumer attitude toward SNS and intention to use SNS, H1 was supported (β1=0.52, p <.001). The positive relationship between subject norm and intention to use SNS (β2=0.16, p <.001), H2 was supported. The relationship between perceived behavioral control and intention to use SNS is also supported (β3=0.16, p <.001), H3 was supported. For consumers perceived usefulness toward SNS, we found several results. There is a positive relationship between perceived usefulness of SNS site and attitude toward SNS (β5=0.35, p <.001), H5 was supported. The relationship between perceived ease of use toward SNS and users attitude is also supported (β6=0.34, p <.001), H6 was supported. The relationship between perceived usefulness and ease of use toward SNS is supported (β7=0.78, p <.001), H7 was supported. The relationship between users trust and their attitude toward SNS (H8) is supported (β8=0.39, p <.001). The relationship between users trust and subjective norm (H9) is supported (β9=0.37, p <.001). The relationship between users trust and perceived behavioral control (H10) is supported (β10=0.46, p <.001). The relationship between users perceived ease of use and trust (H11) is supported (β11=0.22, p <.001). On the other hand the relationship between trust toward SNS and perceived

5 usefulness of SNS is not significant, H12 is not supported. The relationship between trust and intention to use SNS is supported (β13=0.12, p <.05), H13 is supported. The negative relationship between privacy risk and trust is significant (β14=-0.40, p <.001), H14 is supported (See Figure 2). DISSCUSION Social networking sites provide a channel for users communication with family and friend networks. Users personal and affectional attachment did enhance their intention to share information on SNS. Thus, the privacy risk and trust toward SNS actually drive users attitude and intention to share their information on SNS. Easy operational function did increase users positive attitude and intention to use SNS. Subjective norm from an individual s personal network will drive their daily motivations to browse Facebook and Twitter for news of friends and peers. This norm actually enhanced users intention toward a specific SNS. Perceived trust toward a specific SNS also leads to subjective norm. Reference group attachments also strengthen users trust of SNS. Thus, the more one s family or peers use the same SNS, the more their mutual intention to stay with the same SNS is enhanced. However, users perception of security will be strengthened when they feel sure their personal information will be shared only with their chosen groups such as family members and close friends. Privacy risk, trust, and efficient SNS design all influence consumers attitudes and intention to share their personal information through SNS. Fig.2. Research results for structural model testing CONCLUSIONS Ethical issues about consumers online information security and privacy considerations will be a critical 10 factor as long as consumers still like to share their personal information through sites. SNS businesses must identify the factors which lead to privacy risk and harm users trust of SNS in order to provide reliable environments for information-sharing. The results from this research provided insights into SNS security issues regarding consumers privacy risk and trust. The rapid changes of online technology will continually pose ethical challenges due to consumers expectation for privacy protection. Insights from our study will provide implications for SNS companies to develop more efficient and secure website design to enhance consumers perceived control of SNS security and privacy. REFERENCES [1]. [B. Mvungi and M. Iwaihara, Associations between privacy, risk awareness, and interactive motivations of social networking service users, and motivation prediction from observable features, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 44, pp , Mar [2]. D. M. Boyd and N. B. Ellison, Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship, Journal of Computer- Mediated Communication, vol. 13, pp , [3]. J. D arcy and A. Hovav, Does one size fit all? Examining the differential effects of IS security countermeasures, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 89, pp , [4]. S. Roman, The ethics of online retailing: A scale development and validation from consumers perspective, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 72, pp , [5]. N. Hajli and X. Lin, Exploring the security of information sharing on social networking sites: the role of perceived control of information, Journal of Business Ethics, vol. 133, pp , Jan [6]. M. Fishbein and I. Ajzen, Belief, intention and behavior:an introduction to theory and research, Sydney, Australia: Addison-Wesley, [7]. F. D. Davis, Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and end user acceptance of information technology, MIS quarterly, vol. 13, pp , [8]. F. D. Davis, R. P. Bagozzi, and P. R. Warshaw, User acceptance of computer technology: A comparison of two, Manage Science, vol. 35, pp , [9]. I. Ajzen, From intention to actions: A theory of planned behavior, in Action-Control: From Cognition to Behavior, J. Kuhl and J. Bechmann, Eds., Berlin, Germany; Springer, 1985, pp [10]. S. Taylor and P. Todd, An integrated model of waste management behavior: A test of household recycling and composting intentions, Environment and Behavior, vol. 27, pp , [11]. E. Basak and F Calisir, An empirical study on factors affecting continuance intention of using Facebook, Computers in Human Behavior, vol. 48, pp , Jul [12]. I. Ajzen, The theory of planned behavior, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process, vol. 50, no. 2, pp , [13]. E. A. Skinner, A guide to constructs of control, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 71, pp , Sept [14]. J. R. Averill, Personal control over aversive stimuli and its relationship to stress, Psychological Bulletin, vol. 80, p. 286, [15]. J. Lee, Components of medical service users dissatisfaction: A perceived control perspective, International Journal of Management and Marketing Research, vol. 5, pp.53-63, [16]. B. G. Scott and C. F. Weems, Patterns of actual and perceived control: Are control profiles differentially related

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