(In)direct Relationship of Cognitive Appraisals, Privacy Concerns, Privacy Knowledge with Privacy Protection Behavior

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.