دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی محرمانگی اطلاعات در شبکه های اجتماعی - الزویر 2018

Introduction

Social networking in the online sphere has become ubiquitous and part of many users’ daily life. Statistics from Facebook, for example, indicate that the social networking website had an average of 1.37 billion daily active users in September 2017 (Facebook, 2018). One of the unintended consequences of using OSN is the threat to information privacy such as: “unwanted contact and harassment, vulnerability to stalkers or pedophiles, use of private data by a third party, hacking, and identity theft” (Wilson, Gosling, & Graham, 2012, p. 212). Becoming a victim of cyber-bullying is also a potential repercussion of information privacy violation in OSN settings. Being cyber-bullied through OSN, especially for adolescents, can be very distressing and can lead to social isolation and even suicide (Hood & Duffy 2017; Ochoa et al. 2011). The findings from a study by Fogel & Nehmad (2009) suggested that OSN users generally exhibit higher risk-taking attitudes (providing personal information such as phone numbers and home addresses) in comparison to individuals who do not use OSN. Acquisti & Gross (2006) discovered that non-Facebook users had higher than average privacy concerns. Moreover, it is believed that disclosing personal information is more frequent in OSN compared to offline communications (Nguyen, Bin, & Campbell, 2011). It can, therefore, be assumed that users’ privacy attitude in OSN is related to the motives for or the gratifications they obtain from using OSN.

 Conclusion

This research was conducted through carrying out two studies. In Study 1, drawing on the uses and gratification theory and the use of content analysis, the predominant motives for using OSN were identified. In Study 2, APCO (Antecedents → Privacy Concerns → Outcomes) conceptual framework was employed. As antecedents of privacy concerns, the impact of the motives identified on users’ privacy concerns was tested. The outcomes of privacy concerns were assessed by examining the relationship between privacy concern and privacy behaviour. Privacy behaviour was investigated using two factors: self-disclosure, and privacy protective measures (e.g. applying privacy settings, being cautious about joining groups and accepting friending requests). In order of prevalence, the motives for using OSN were identified in Study 1 as: 1-relationship maintenance, 2-entertainment, 3-relationship building, and 4-information seeking. The same sequence for these motives was adopted in Study 2. Exploring the mean value of the used motives in Study 2 confirmed that the strongest motivation for using OSN is to maintain current relationships. Information privacy concern was examined by four dimensions: collection, errors, improper access and unauthorized secondary use. Among these dimensions, participants were most concerned about improper access and least concerned about collection. The regression analysis indicated that users who mainly used OSN for entertainment or establishing new relationships were more likely to be concerned about different aspects of information privacy. In contrast, those who utilised OSN to seek information seemed not to be concerned about privacy. These outcomes should be considered in the light of the weak association between the two constructs and the weak predictability of all dimensions of information privacy arising from the motives.