Title: The impact of privacy concerns on trust, attitude and intention of using a search engine: an empirical analysis

Authors: Ramaraj Palanisamy

Addresses: Department of Information Systems, The Gerald Schwartz School of Business, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS B2G 2W5, Canada

Abstract: Search engines make use of sophisticated information technologies for collecting personal search information from the searchers. The users believe that misuse or unauthorised disclosure of their personal search information to third parties create threat to their privacy. This paper empirically examines the impact of privacy concerns on trust, attitude and intention of using a search engine. Research hypotheses were evolved and tested by empirical data collected from users of various search engines. The questionnaire survey was administered with 235 users and statistical analysis was done on a total of 199 usable responses. The major findings of the study are: i) user's privacy concern negatively influences trust, attitude and intention of using a search engine; ii) the negative effects of privacy concerns could be controlled by creating a positive attitude and building trust over the targeted search engine. A discussion of the implications of these findings for practice and research are given along with conclusions.

Keywords: search engines; privacy concerns; trust; user attitudes; user intentions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2014.063032

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2014 Vol.11 No.3, pp.274 - 296

Received: 20 Mar 2013
Accepted: 25 Jan 2014

Published online: 06 Feb 2015 *

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