The privacy dyad: Antecedents of promotion- and prevention-focused online privacy behaviors and the mediating role of trust and privacy concern

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the business communication-related variables of reputation, communication quality and information sensitivity are mediated by trust and privacy concern to influence the privacy dyad (i.e. promotion- and prevention-focused privacy behaviors).

Design/methodology/approach

Regulatory focus theory (RFT) is used to build a framework to examine antecedents of promotion- and prevention-focused privacy behaviors as well as mediators of these relationships. Hypotheses were tested using a 2 (firm reputation: strong/weak)×3 (communication quality: high/neutral/low)×2 (data sensitivity: high/low) between-subjects factorial design.

Findings

The findings support the proposed model. Specifically, high reputation and communication quality increased promotion-focused behaviors and were mediated by trust. In contrast, low communication quality and high data sensitivity increased prevention-focused behaviors and were mediated by privacy concern. Consistent with RFT, higher trust led to promotion-focused behaviors such as willingness to invest in the relationship (e.g., by providing information to the service provider and investing time and energy) and loyalty behaviors. Furthermore, higher privacy concerns led to prevention-focused behaviors such as deflective (e.g., using privacy protection measures such as disguising one’s IP address and disabling cookies) and defensive behaviors (e.g., taking action to have one’s name removed from mailing lists).

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature on customer relationship management, RFT and trust and privacy in an online context.

Citation

Lwin, M.O., Wirtz, J. and Stanaland, A.J.S. (2016), "The privacy dyad: Antecedents of promotion- and prevention-focused online privacy behaviors and the mediating role of trust and privacy concern", Internet Research, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 919-941. https://doi.org/10.1108/IntR-05-2014-0134