Abstract:
The rise in the use of internet is not only making things and tasks easier and
effortless for public but also giving a rise in the issues regarding privacy towards
internet. People today do not realise how and to what extent they are compromising
on their privacy when they give out their personal information on internet. Prior
research regarding privacy have measured if people are concerned or not concerned
about their privacy and if they are willing to protect it or not. So, it is equally
important to study that what are the factors that trigger the privacy concerns of users
and how they mediate their behaviour towards privacy. The current study
investigated about the factors that effect the privacy concerns and privacy knowledge
of the internet users and how they further mediate the privacy protection behaviour
among users. The data was collected from 706 with the help of an online survey that
was conducted in Pakistan. The results of this study show that the relationship
between cognitive appraisals and privacy protection behaviour is mediated by both,
privacy concerns and privacy knowledge. Moreover, there was direct relationship
also found between cognitive appraisals and privacy protection behaviour. The
demographic variables, gender and age also had a significant and direct relationship
with privacy protection behaviour.
