An Exploration of the Impact of Information Privacy Invasion

Even though information privacy literature has been studying the negative influence of privacy concerns on personal information disclosure, the issue is more complex because often the actual behavior of the individual does not reflect the influence. However, limited explanations have been directed toward examining the contradictory phenomenon between privacy concerns and various subsequent behaviors, the so called privacy paradox. Given this apparent gap, a grounded theory approach is undertaken herein, to improve our understanding of the privacy paradox mechanism and other issues with regard to information privacy. The results of this study suggest that prior experiences of individuals with privacy invasion without actual losses decrease the perceived likelihood of actual loss. Further, privacy concerns impact the perceived likelihood of actual loss. Other factors, such as privacy protective efficacy, privacy apathy, etc, that are related to the inherent role of privacy concerns in behavior are also discussed in the study.