Paper Info
Title
Impact of privacy policy content on perceived effectiveness of privacy policy: the role of vulnerability, benevolence and privacy concern
Abstract
Purpose This study examines how the different dimensions of a privacy policy separately influence perceived effectiveness of privacy policy, as well as the mediating mechanisms behind these effects (i.e. vulnerability, benevolence). In addition, this study considers privacy concern as a significant moderator in the research model, to examine if the relative influences of privacy policy content are contingent upon levels of users' privacy concern. Design/methodology/approach The survey experiment was conducted to empirically validate the model. Specifically, three survey experiments and six scenarios were designed to manipulate high and low levels of the three privacy policy dimensions (i.e. transparency, control and protection). The authors totally distributed 450 copies of the questionnaire, of which 407 were valid. Findings This paper found that (1) all the three privacy policy dimensions directly influence perceived effectiveness of privacy policy; (2) all the three privacy policy dimensions indirectly influence perceived effectiveness of privacy policy by enhancing perceived corporate benevolence, whereas control also affects perceived effectiveness of privacy policy by reducing perceived vulnerability; and (3) individuals with high-privacy concern are much more impacted by privacy policy contents than individuals with low-privacy concern. Practical implications The findings could provide website managers with guidelines on how to design privacy policy contents by reducing user perceptions of vulnerability and enhancing user perceptions of corporate benevolence. The managers need to focus on customers' perceived vulnerability and corporate benevolence when launching or updating privacy policies. Furthermore, the managers also need to attend to users' privacy concerns, especially for multinational companies or companies with specific consumer groups. Originality/value This study extends the current privacy policy literature by articulating the separate influences of the three privacy policy dimensions and their impact mechanisms on perceived effectiveness of privacy policy. It also uncovers privacy concerns as a boundary condition that influence the effects of privacy policy contents on users' privacy perceptions.
Year
DOI
Venue
2022
10.1108/JEIM-12-2020-0481
JOURNAL OF ENTERPRISE INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Keywords
DocType
Volume
Privacy policy content, Perceived effectiveness of privacy policy, Vulnerability, Benevolence, Privacy concerns
Journal
35
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
3
1741-0398
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
0
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Yuanyuan Guo100.34
Xin Wang2018.25
Chaoyou Wang300.34