Title: Internet transactions: perceptions of personal risk

Authors: Jollean K. Sinclaire, Ronald B. Wilkes, Judith C. Simon

Addresses: Fogelman College of Business and Economics, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA. ' Fogelman College of Business and Economics, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA. ' Fogelman College of Business and Economics, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA

Abstract: User perception of the risk associated with giving information to online companies is examined, as well as user concerns with personal privacy and beliefs that using the internet can result in personal privacy problems. A research model was proposed by integrating constructs from previous research, and a survey was conducted to examine one construct: user perception of the internet or the degree to which individuals discriminate between online versus traditional companies. Overwhelmingly, respondents reported feeling more at risk and less safe when giving information to firms that conduct business only online than when giving information to firms that conduct business only in the traditional face-to-face manner in an office or store. Additionally, 65% of those surveyed believe that using the internet can result in personal privacy problems. This paper suggests that positive merchant/web attributes are necessary but insufficient to provide the assurance of transaction safety that web users require.

Keywords: online trust; information privacy; e-commerce; electronic commerce; internet transactions; risk perception; personal risk; user perception; personal privacy; transaction safety; safety assurance; networking; virtual organisations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2006.011870

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2006 Vol.3 No.4, pp.425 - 437

Published online: 28 Dec 2006 *

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