Abstract
Privacy affects every user who exchanges information over the Internet. In the past few years, the growth of information on social networks (such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) has increased exponentially. Companies are harvesting this information with and without the knowledge of individuals. While the exchange of information and seamless interaction between individuals and groups has become an easy task, issues related to this exchange, such as information privacy and security, have created new challenges. This study investigated respondents' attitudes towards privacy on social networking sites. In addition, the study sought to ascertain whether socio-demographic variables and knowledge of privacy issues influence attitudes and privacy concerns towards using social computing sites. Data analysis includes descriptive profile analysis, and statistical validation of attitudes and privacy concerns by means of correlation, regression, and cluster analysis. There was a significant relationship between privacy awareness and knowledge based on information provided by respondents. Most socio-demographic variables did not show significant effects on information privacy concerns. Implications of the findings are discussed. Further research is needed to investigate individual concerns on specific information that is being collected, stored, and shared on popular social networking sites.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Sunil Hazari
Dr. Sunil Hazari is Associate Professor in the Department of Marketing & Business Education at the Richards College of Business, University of West Georgia. His teaching and research interests are in the areas of Social Media Collaboration & Communication, Information Security, Web Usability, and Organizational aspects of e-Learning. He has authored several peer-reviewed journal publications in Information and Instructional Technology areas, and has presented papers at national conferences. He serves on editorial board member of several journals. Further information is available from //www.sunilhazari.com/education
Cheryl Brown
Cheryl O'Meara Brown is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Marketing at the Richards College of Business, University of West Georgia. Her teaching and research interests are in Marketing Research and Digital Marketing. She has served as a consultant to several organizations.
