scholarly journals Individuals’ privacy concerns and adoption of contact tracing mobile applications in a pandemic: A situational privacy calculus perspective

Author(s):  
Farkhondeh Hassandoust ◽  
Saeed Akhlaghpour ◽  
Allen C Johnston

Abstract Objective The study sought to develop and empirically validate an integrative situational privacy calculus model for explaining potential users’ privacy concerns and intention to install a contact tracing mobile application (CTMA). Materials and Methods A survey instrument was developed based on the extant literature in 2 research streams of technology adoption and privacy calculus. Survey participants (N = 853) were recruited from all 50 U.S. states. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to validate and test the model. Results Individuals’ intention to install a CTMA is influenced by their risk beliefs, perceived individual and societal benefits to public health, privacy concerns, privacy protection initiatives (legal and technical protection), and technology features (anonymity and use of less sensitive data). We found only indirect relationships between trust in public health authorities and intention to install CTMA. Sex, education, media exposure, and past invasion of privacy did not have a significant relationship either, but interestingly, older people were slightly more inclined than younger people to install a CTMA. Discussion Our survey results confirm the initial concerns about the potentially low adoption rates of CTMA. Our model provides public health agencies with a validated list of factors influencing individuals’ privacy concerns and beliefs, enabling them to systematically take actions to address these identified issues, and increase CTMA adoption. Conclusions Developing CTMAs and increasing their adoption is an ongoing challenge for public health systems and policymakers. This research provides an evidence-based and situation-specific model for a better understanding of this theoretically and pragmatically important phenomenon.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Fernandes ◽  
Marta Costa

Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic represents a unique challenge for public health worldwide. In this context, smartphone-based tracking apps play an important role in controlling transmission. However, privacy concerns may compromise the population’s willingness to adopt this mobile health (mHealth) technology. Based on the privacy calculus theory, this study aims to examine what factors drive or hinder adoption and disclosure, considering the moderating role of age and health status. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey was conducted in a European country hit by the pandemic that has recently launched a COVID-19 contact-tracing app. Data from 504 potential users was analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings Results indicate that perceived benefits and privacy concerns impact adoption and disclosure and confirm the existence of a privacy paradox. However, for young and healthy users, only benefits have a significant effect. Moreover, older people value more personal than societal benefits while for respondents with a chronical disease privacy concerns outweigh personal benefits. Originality/value The study contributes to consumer privacy research and to the mHealth literature, where privacy issues have been rarely explored, particularly regarding COVID-19 contact-tracing apps. The study re-examines the privacy calculus by incorporating societal benefits and moving from a traditional “self-focus” approach to an “other-focus” perspective. This study further adds to prior research by examining the moderating role of age and health condition, two COVID-19 risk factors. This study thus offers critical insights for governments and health organizations aiming to use these tools to reduce COVID-19 transmission rates.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheshadri Chatterjee ◽  
Ranjan Chaudhuri ◽  
Demetris Vrontis ◽  
Zahid Hussain

Purpose This study aims to empirically examine how consumer privacy concerns (CPC) impact smartphone usage for financial transactions. The study also investigates the moderating impact of regulations on this action. Design/methodology/approach With the inputs from literature and related privacy theories, a theoretical model was developed. The model was later empirically validated using the partial least squares structural equation modeling technique with 367 respondents from India. Findings The study finds that CPC significantly impacts on consumer behavior in using smartphones for financial transactions. The study also highlights that regulation has a moderating impact on consumer usage of smartphones for financial transactions. Research limitations/implications This study provides valuable inputs to smartphone service providers, practitioners, regulatory authorities and policymakers on appropriate and secure usage of smartphones by consumers, ensuring privacy protection while making financial transactions. Originality/value This study provides a unique model showing the antecedents of CPC to impact the behavioral reaction of smartphone users mediated through the ingredients of privacy calculus theory. Besides, this study analyzes the moderating effects of regulation on the use of smartphones for financial transactions. This is also a novel approach of this study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 661-669 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Schade ◽  
Rico Piehler ◽  
Claudius Warwitz ◽  
Christoph Burmann

Purpose This study aims to investigate the influence of advertising value and privacy concerns on consumers’ intention to use location-based advertising. It also explores if brand trust toward location-based advertising providers and consumers’ privacy self-efficacy reduce privacy concerns. Design/methodology/approach Based on the privacy calculus and expectancy theory, a conceptual model is developed and empirically tested through structural equation modeling using cross-sectional data of 1,121 actual smartphone users from Germany. Findings Advertising value positively and privacy concerns negatively affect consumers’ intention to use location-based advertising. As expected, brand trust and consumers’ privacy self-efficacy can reduce consumers’ privacy concerns. Research limitations/implications Further research should test and validate the proposed framework in other cultures to gain insights into the culturally specific relevance of privacy concerns and their antecedents. The current study includes sociodemographics as potential moderators; additional studies could investigate other potential moderators (e.g. personality, values). Practical implications To reduce consumers’ privacy concerns, location-based advertising providers should make their offers transparent and give consumers control, to increase their privacy self-efficacy. They also should work to strengthen their brand, monitor brand trust trends and avoid any trust-damaging behavior. Originality/value This study introduces brand trust toward location-based advertising providers and privacy self-efficacy as factors to reduce consumers’ privacy concerns. It also encompasses a broader, general sample of consumers, which increases the generalizability and practical relevance of the results and supports an initial investigation of sociodemographic factors as potential moderators in this context.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 342-342
Author(s):  
Jason Newsom ◽  
Emily Denning ◽  
Ana Quinones ◽  
Miriam Elman ◽  
Anda Botoseneanu ◽  
...  

Abstract Racial/ethnic disparities in multimorbidity (≥2 chronic conditions) and their rate of accumulation over time have been established. Studies report differences in physical activity across racial/ethnic groups. We investigated whether racial/ethnic differences in accumulation of multimorbidity over a 10-year period (2004-2014) were mediated by physical activity using data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 10,724, mean age = 63.5 years). Structural equation modeling was used to estimate a latent growth curve model of changes in the number of self-reported chronic conditions (of nine) and investigate whether the relationship of race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic, non-Hispanic White) to change in the number of chronic conditions was mediated by physical activity after controlling for age, sex, education, marital status, personal wealth, and insurance coverage. Results indicated that Blacks engaged in significantly lower levels of physical activity than Whites (b = -.171, □ = -.153, p < .001), but there were no differences between Hispanics and Whites (b = -.010, □ = -.008, ns). Physical activity also significantly predicted both lower initial levels of multimorbidity (b = -1.437, □ = -.420, p < .001) and greater decline in multimorbidity (b = -.039, □ = -.075, p < .001). The indirect (mediational) effect for the Black vs. White comparison was significant (b = .007, □ = .011, 95% CI [.004,.010]). These results provide important new information for understanding how modifiable lifestyle factors may help explain disparities in multimorbidity in middle and later life, suggesting greater need to reduce sedentary behavior and increase activity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 198-207
Author(s):  
Marshely Zulhaisa ◽  
Syafruddin Karimi ◽  
Endrizal Ridwan

The purpose of this study was to determine the household interest in using mobile banking in Padang City. The factors studied in this research were risks, benefits, conveniences, trusts, and technology systems. This study used primary data by conducting a field survey through questionnaires distributed to 273 respondents in the Sawahan Village, East Padang District, Padang City. The data analysis method in this research wass qualitative by using descriptive analysis techniques and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) processed with the AMOS program. Descriptive analysis was used to show the relationship between respondent characteristics such as age, sex, education level, occupation, and income and the respondent’s interests in mobile banking. While the results of the analysis obtained by the SEM method show that perceived benefits, perceived conveniences, perceived risks, technology systems influence household interest in mobile banking in Padang City, there is no influence of perceived trusts on household interest in mobile banking in Padang City.


2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 219-246
Author(s):  
Ruwan Bandara ◽  
Mario Fernando ◽  
Shahriar Akter

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine privacy issues in the e-commerce context from a power-responsibility equilibrium theory (PRE) perspective. Design/methodology/approach The data was collected using an online survey (n = 335) from online shopping consumers. This study used partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) techniques to empirically examine the proposed relationships. Findings A lack of corporate privacy responsibility and regulatory protection can deprive consumers of privacy empowerment and damage consumer trust to trigger privacy concerns and subsequent defensive responses. Also, the fsQCA revealed five causal configurations to explain high consumer defensive behaviours. Research limitations/implications This study identifies the importance of PRE theory in the privacy context. Consumer privacy concerns, privacy empowerment and trust are established as strong mediators between corporate/regulatory privacy protection efforts and consumer backlash. The application of fsQCA verified that consumer privacy behaviour can be better explained by different configurations of the same causal antecedents. Practical implications The findings highlight the importance of increasing trust and privacy empowerment as mechanisms to manage privacy concerns and consumer backlash through responsible organisational and regulatory privacy protections. The importance of balancing power and responsibility dynamics for maintaining a healthy information exchange environment is identified. Originality/value This study extends the PRE framework of privacy to include corporate privacy responsibility, privacy empowerment and trust. This is one of the first studies to explore both antecedents and outcomes of privacy empowerment. Also, the application of complexity theory and fsQCA to explain consumers’ defensive responses is novel to the literature.


2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger Keller Celeste ◽  
João Luiz Bastos ◽  
Eduardo Faerstein

We analyze bibliometric trends of topics relevant to the epidemiologic research of social determinants of health. A search of the PubMed database, covering the period 1985-2007, was performed for the topics: socioeconomic factors, sex, race/ethnicity, discrimination/prejudice, social capital/support, lifecourse, income inequality, stress, behavioral research, contextual effects, residential segregation, multilevel modeling, regression based indices to measure inequalities, and structural equation modeling/causal diagrams/path analysis. The absolute, but not the relative, frequency of publications increased for all themes. Total publications in PubMed increased 2.3 times, while the subsets of epidemiology/public health and social epidemiologic themes/methods increased by factors of 5.3 and 5.2, respectively. Only multilevel and contextual analyses had a growth over and above that observed for epidemiology/public health. We conclude that there is clearly room for wider use of established techniques, and for new methods to emerge when they satisfy theoretical needs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S177-S178
Author(s):  
S. Von Humboldt ◽  
I. Leal

IntroductionIncreasing longevity brings challenges for older adults’ satisfaction with life (SWL).AimsThis study aims at exploring a structural model of predictors of SWL in a cross-national sample of older adults.MethodsA community-dwelling sample of 1234 older adults was assessed regarding SWL, sense of coherence (SOC) and socio-demographic, lifestyle and health-related characteristics. Structural equation modeling was used to investigate a structural model of the self-reported SWL, comprising SOC, socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, education, marital and professional status, household, adult children, income, living setting and religion), lifestyle and health-related characteristics (physical activity, recent disease and medication).ResultsSignificant predictors are SOC (β = .733; P < .001), religion (β = .725; P < .001), income (β = .551; P < .001), adult children (β = .546; P < .001), education (β = –.403; P < .001), living setting (β = –.292; P < .001) and medication (β = –.197; P < .001). The variables accounted for 24.8% of the variability of SWL. Moreover, differences between the four nationality groups (F(3, 671) = 3.671, P = .066) were not found concerning SWL.ConclusionsSense of coherence is the strongest predictor of self-reported SWL. Other predictors are religion, income, adult children, education, living setting and medication. The four nationalities did not present significant differences, concerning SWL. This study highlights the factors that influence older adults’ SWL, namely, SOC, religion and income, as promoters of aging well, within a salutogenic model of health for older populations.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katalyn Roßmann ◽  
Heike Wegner ◽  
Hans Stark ◽  
Gerd Großmann ◽  
Andreas Jansen ◽  
...  

The Medical Intelligence and Information (MI2) Unit of the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr) is experienced in crisis support in military missions since several years. It gained additional experiences during the current coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on different levels of the response to crisis and was requested to share the findings and expertise with the overloaded civil public health agencies inside Germany. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the unit is constantly developing new products for crisis communication, knowledge sharing techniques in new databases, dashboards for leadership, and training for laypersons in contact tracing. Hence, trying to innovate in crisis since the first severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2-disease wave. During the second wave, the unit was requested to evaluate the outbreak management of different national civil public health agencies in southern Germany, and to support the development of dashboards in a comprehensive public health approach as a necessary start toward digitalization.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanette Carlsson Hauff ◽  
Jonas Nilsson

Purpose During 2020, governments around the world introduced contact-tracing apps to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. In order for contact-tracing apps to be efficient tools in combatting pandemics, a significant proportion of the population has to install it. However, in many countries, the success of apps introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic has been limited due to lack of public support. This paper aims to better understand why consumers seem unwilling to install and use a contact-tracing app. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors test a number of determinants hypothesized to influence acceptance of contact-tracing apps based on the theory of privacy calculus (Dinev and Hart, 2006). Both perceived privacy concerns, as well as perceived hedonic, utilitarian and pro-social benefits are included. The hypotheses are tested through SEM analysis on a representative sample of 1,007 Swedish citizens. Findings The results indicate significant privacy concerns with using contact-tracing apps. However, this is to some extent offset by perceived hedonic and pro-social positive consequences of using the app. This study further shows that a general positive attitude towards innovation increases acceptance of the app. Originality/value The study contributes to research on consumer privacy, both in general in its application of the calculus model but also specifically in the context of contact-tracing apps. Moreover, as the results highlight which aspects that are important for consumers to accept and install an app of this kind, they also represent an important contribution to policymakers in countries around the world.


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