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The role of privacy assurance mechanisms in building trust and the moderating role of privacy concern

  • Empirical Research
  • Published:
European Journal of Information Systems

Abstract

Privacy policy statements and privacy assurance cues are among the most important website features that online providers use to increase individuals’ trust and willingness to disclose private information online. The focus of this study is a comprehensive examination of the process by which privacy assurance mechanisms influence trust and the moderating role of privacy concern in this process. We use the lens of the Elaboration Likelihood Model to investigate the way different individuals perceive and process privacy assurance mechanisms. We argue that the trust-enhancing role of these mechanisms depends on the individual’s privacy concern. The results of this study articulate the process by which various privacy assurance mechanisms operate in enhancing an individual’s trust, and show that there are distinct behavioral differences between individuals with high- vs low-privacy concern when forming their trust to disclose private information. The paper sheds new light on the role of elaboration in the trust building process, and shows why privacy assurance mechanisms have different impacts depending on individuals’ privacy concerns.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Wisconsin – Green Bay, WI, U.S.A.

    Gaurav Bansal

  2. University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, WI, U.S.A.

    Fatemeh ‘Mariam’ Zahedi

  3. Drexel University, PA, U.S.A.

    David Gefen

Authors
  1. Gaurav Bansal
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  2. Fatemeh ‘Mariam’ Zahedi
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  3. David Gefen
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Correspondence to Gaurav Bansal.

Appendices

Appendix A

Table A1

Table A1 The instrument
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Appendix B

Table B1

Table B1 Construct reliability checks (purified data)
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Appendix C

Table C1

Table C1 Construct correlations and comparison with square root of AVEs – Low PC group
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Appendix D

Table D1

Table D1 Construct correlations and comparison with square root of AVEs – High PC group
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Appendix E

Table E1

Table E1 Confirmatory factor analysis using the measurement model
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Appendix F

Table F1

Table F1 Discriminant validity chi square tests
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Bansal, G., Zahedi, F. & Gefen, D. The role of privacy assurance mechanisms in building trust and the moderating role of privacy concern. Eur J Inf Syst 24, 624–644 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejis.2014.41

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