Value Focused Assessment of Individual Privacy Concerns for Internet Commerce

This paper presents preliminary findings from an empirical study to assess individual privacy concerns for Internet commerce. Using Keeney’s (1999) value-focused thinking approach, 92 individuals with prior Internet shopping experience were interviewed from across the United States and the United Kingdom. Data from the interviews was used to identify eight fundamental and 20 means objectives that are essential for protecting individual privacy in the context of Internet commerce. The findings help in developing a framework to ensure privacy of individuals and provide a basis for an instrument to measure privacy concerns when shopping online. 1 VALUE-FOCUSED ASSESSMENT OF PRIVACY CONCERNS Assessing the value of individual privacy for Internet commerce has been a concern of many researchers. Some have considered process fairness as an adequate means for ensuring individual privacy (e.g., Milne and Gordon 1993). Others have considered constraining unauthorized secondary use as a useful mechanism for protecting privacy. More recently, many researchers have been informed by information security principles of confidentiality, integrity and availability as suitable means to protect individual privacy (e.g., Dhillon and Backhouse 2000). Clearly individual privacy concerns for Internet commerce are not a unidimensional construct and there is a need to consider the various dimensions of privacy as it relates to Internet commerce. Although for traditional firms Smith, et al. (1996) identify collection, unauthorized secondary use, improper access, and errors as important aspects of individual privacy, there is a need to examine the issues in the context of Internet commerce (cf. Culnan and Armstrong 1999). In context of this research, our intent is to examine the values individuals have with respect to maintaining privacy when engaging in Internet commerce. In understanding the notion of value of individual privacy for Internet commerce, two classes of definitions need to be understood. The first relates to the notion of value proposition, as proposed by Keeney (1999). The second relates to individual privacy concerns for Internet commerce. Values, according to Keeney (1992), are principles that an individual might adhere to. Particular situations, actions and inactions are then evaluated in light of these principles. With respect to individual privacy concerns for Internet commerce, the value proposition can be defined as the net benefit and cost associated with letting go of one’s privacy when purchasing online, relative to other means of shopping. The intent behind value-focused thinking is to consider activities that occur prior to a decision problem being solved. The approach, therefore, helps in uncovering hidden objectives (Keeney 1994). The second class of definitions relates to individual privacy concerns for Internet commerce. We term this concept Internet Dhillon et al./Privacy Concerns for Internet Commerce 706 2002 — Twenty-Third International Conference on Information Systems commerce privacy, which is the ability of the individual to exercise control over the disclosure and subsequent use of their personal information. Although most individuals are aware that some sort of personal information is being collected, the unauthorized intrusion to collect and use personal data marks the beginning of privacy infringement. In the context of our research, it is important to understand and identify a range of individual values with respect to informed consent, process fairness, and unauthorized use that organizations need to recognize if they are to be successful in the conduct of Internet commerce and be socially responsible toward individual privacy concerns. The objective of this research, therefore, is to elicit such individual values that would form the basis for developing privacy objectives for companies involved with Internet commerce. This paper is organized into three sections. Following a brief introduction, which systematically positions the nature and scope of this research, section two presents the methodology used to collect values attached to individual privacy concerns. Section three presents a brief discussion, conclusions, and future research directions.