Title: Effects of perceived privacy protection: does reading privacy notices matter?

Authors: Xiaojing Sheng; Penny M. Simpson

Addresses: College of Business Administration, The University of Texas-Pan American, 1201 W. University Blvd., Edinburg, TX 78539, USA ' College of Business Administration, The University of Texas-Pan American, 1201 W. University Blvd., Edinburg, TX 78539, USA

Abstract: Many consumers do not read privacy notices despite the fact that websites post privacy notices to address consumers' long-standing concerns about privacy protection on the internet. To understand why consumers do not read privacy notices and the impact of reading (or not reading) privacy notices on the found effect of privacy notices, data were collected from 137 readers of privacy notices and 97 non-readers of privacy notices. This research's test of the moderating effects of reading (or not reading) privacy notices found that perceived privacy protection positively affected trust and negatively affected perceived information risk and that the negative effect of perceived privacy protection on perceived information risk became stronger for privacy notice readers. This research also developed a typology of reasons why consumers read and do not read privacy notices.

Keywords: perceived privacy protection; online security; privacy notices; online trust; internet security; information risk; perceived risk; privacy notice readers; privacy notice non-readers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSS.2014.061059

International Journal of Services and Standards, 2014 Vol.9 No.1, pp.19 - 36

Received: 07 Nov 2013
Accepted: 10 Apr 2014

Published online: 30 Oct 2014 *

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