A Model of Consumers’ Perceptions of the Invasion of Information Privacy

Information & Management 50 (2013) 1–12

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Information & Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/im

A model of consumers’ perceptions of the invasion of information privacy

Kathy S. Schwaig a,*, Albert H. Segars b, Varun Grover c, Kirk D. Fiedler d

a

Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University, United States

Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina, United States

c

College of Business and Behavioral Science, Clemson University, United States

d

The Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, United States

b

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Article history:

Received 22 April 2008

Accepted 5 January 2012

Available online 27 November 2012

We examined factors that influence an individual’s attitude and decisions about the information

handling practices of corporations. Results from a survey of 425 consumers suggested that the

hypothesized model was an accurate reflection of factors that affect privacy preferences of consumers.

The results provide important implications for research and practice. Our study should contribute by

initiating an integrative stream of research on the impact of IT and other factors on information privacy

perception. For practitioners, our findings suggested that consumers hold corporations, not the IS,

responsible for any inappropriate use of personal information. Organizations, therefore, must be

proactive in formulating and enforcing information privacy policy in order to address consumers’

concerns.

ß 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:

Privacy

Ethics

Customer relationship management

Consumer attitudes

Experimental design

1. Introduction

The loss of private, consumer information and the prosecution

of culpable organizations have been heavily reported in recent

years. Concerns for information privacy are especially important

in the on-line context where face to face...