Development of measures of online privacy concern and protection for use on the Internet

  • Authors:

  • Tom Buchanan;Carina Paine;Adam N. Joinson;Ulf-Dietrich Reips

  • Affiliations:

  • Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London, W1B 2UW, United Kingdom;Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Walton Hall Campus, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom;Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University, Walton Hall Campus, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, United Kingdom;Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland

  • Venue:
  • Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

As the Internet grows in importance, concerns about online privacy have arisen. The authors describe the development and validation of three short Internet-administered scales measuring privacy-related attitudes (Privacy Concern) and behaviors (General Caution and Technical Protection). In Study 1, 515 people completed an 82-item questionnaire from which the three scales were derived. In Study 2, scale validity was examined by comparing scores of individuals drawn from groups considered likely to differ in privacy-protective behaviors. In Study 3, correlations between the scores on the current scales and two established measures of privacy concern were examined. The authors conclude that these scales are reliable and valid instruments suitable for administration via the Internet, and present them for use in online privacy research. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.