Extended model of online PRIvacy CONcern – PRICON (CSF)

Programme: Croatian Science Foundation's Research Projects Programme 
Project duration: from July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2018
Project manager: Jelena Budak
Project value: 497.925,00 HRK


Summary:
The research project will develop a comprehensive integrated model of privacy concern in the online environment and empirically test it in order to provide deeper understanding of various interactions between antecedents, concerns and consequences of online privacy. The research objectives will be achieved initially by identifying and developing (i) a comprehensive list of antecedents such as demographic factors (e.g. gender, education), experience factors (e.g. internet use experience, web expertise) and social-psychological factors (values, attitudes), and (ii) a comprehensive list of consequences of online privacy concern on individual-user level. These inputs will be used to develop an extended integrated model of online privacy concern in order to examine conceptual interrelations. Upon building a model, a customized survey questionnaire will be designed and measurement instruments for variables tested. The field research will consist of surveying 2,000 citizens in Croatia to assess their attitudes and behaviour patterns when taking different roles and actions in the online environment. This core part of the research aims to empirically test the conceptualized model by employing adequate analytical tools to the large database collected in the survey. The research will result in the final definition of integrated theoretical framework of online privacy concern that will consolidate various streams of research in this field. The extended model of online privacy concern could be applied in future development in the related domain. The additional project outcomes are policy implications and recommendations for regulatory control, internet users policy and business strategies.