Drivers of Health Information Privacy Concern: A Comparison Study

There has been an exponential increase in the utilization of health ICTs by both health professionals and individual citizens. Despite the many benefits these technologies offer, citizens’ health information privacy concerns are commonly cited as a barrier to their sustained growth. In order to address these concerns and ensure the continued success of health ICTs, the factors driving concern must be understood. At present there is a lack of understanding of what factors can affect citizens’ health information privacy concerns (HIPC). This paper addresses this gap in our knowledge by developing and testing a framework which examines the antecedents to HIPC. The findings indicate that individual characteristics such as age, individual perceptions such as perceived sensitivity, and individual experiences can all influence health information privacy concerns. This paper represents an important initial step in unraveling the role the labyrinthine privacy construct plays in the health context.