Privacy Concerns and Online Behavior – Not so Paradoxical after All? Viewing the Privacy Paradox Through Different Theoretical Lenses

19 Pages Posted: 16 Apr 2014

Date Written: April 15, 2014

Abstract

This contribution provides a new avenue to the privacy paradox -- the divergence between attitudes and behavior when it comes to online privacy. Our approach rests on research in online trust and on the theory of public value as well as Tönnies' duality of "Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft". We show with representative data from 2012 that the very providers of Internet and mobile services – web companies and telecommunication providers – enjoy very low levels of trust in terms of privacy protection. Even before the PRISM scandal Swiss people distrusted these organizations. By contrast, financial institutions, the public service, and government enjoy high levels of (data protection) trust. We find that the privacy paradox in Switzerland is a trust problem rather than a concern problem. Implications for theory and practice are derived.

Keywords: Online Privacy, Tönnies, Trust, Public Value, Internet Companies, Privacy Concerns, Internet Research

Suggested Citation

Lutz, Christoph and Strathoff, Pepe, Privacy Concerns and Online Behavior – Not so Paradoxical after All? Viewing the Privacy Paradox Through Different Theoretical Lenses (April 15, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2425132 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2425132

Christoph Lutz (Contact Author)

BI Norwegian Business School ( email )

Nydalsveien 37
Oslo, Oslo 0448
Norway
+4746410206 (Phone)

Pepe Strathoff

Independent ( email )

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