Adverse consequences of access to individuals’ information: an analysis of perceptions and the scope of organisational influence

Abstract

Organisations are highly interested in collecting and analysing customer data to enhance their service offerings and customer interaction. However, individuals increasingly fear how such practices may negatively affect them. Although previous studies have investigated individuals’ concerns about information privacy practices, the adverse consequences people associate with external actors accessing their personal information remain unclear. To mitigate customers’ fears, organisations need to know which adverse consequences individuals are afraid of and how to address those negative perceptions. To investigate this topic, we conducted 22 focus groups with 119 participants. We developed a comprehensive conceptualisation and categorisation of individuals’ perceived adverse consequences of access to their information that includes seven types of consequences: psychological, social, career-related, physical, resource-related, prosecution-related, and freedom-related. Although individuals may limit their interactions with an organisation owing to consequences they associate with both the organisation and other actors, organisations can apply preventive and corrective mechanisms to mitigate some of these negative perceptions. However, organisations’ scope of influence is limited and some fears may be mitigated only by individuals themselves or government regulation, if at all.

Keywords:

• information privacy
• access to individuals’ information
• perceived adverse consequences
• mitigation mechanisms
• focus group study

Special Issue Editors: Paul Benjamin Lowry, Tamara Dinev, Robert Willison

Special Issue Editors: Paul Benjamin Lowry, Tamara Dinev, Robert Willison

Acknowledgements

We thank the editors and three anonymous reviewers for their feedback and guidance throughout the review process. In addition, we are grateful to Lisa Heller and our other student research assistants Katja Englberger, Viktoria Schlichte, and Christin Schaller for their support of this research project.

Notes

1 We thank an anonymous reviewer for highlighting this possibility.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sabrina Karwatzki

Sabrina Karwatzki is Research Assistant and Ph.D. Candidate at the Faculty of Business and Economics of University of Augsburg (Germany). She holds a M.Sc. in business informatics from the University of Mannheim, Germany. Her research focuses on the impact of information privacy on individuals and organisations. Her work appeared in journals including the Journal of Management Information Systems and the Journal of Business Economics and in conference proceedings, such as ECIS, HICSS, and AMICS.

Manuel Trenz

Manuel Trenz is Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Business and Economics of University of Augsburg (Germany) and Research Associate in the Research Department for Information and Communication Technologies of the Centre for European Economic Research. He holds a Ph.D. from the Business School of the University of Mannheim, Germany. His research focuses on the implications of IT innovations on individuals’ perceptions and behavior, including innovative digital services, channel convergence in retailing, and social issues arising in the areas of privacy or the sharing economy. His work has been published in Journal of Management Information Systems, Business & Information Systems Engineering, and in conferences such as ICIS, ECIS and AMCIS.

Virpi Kristiina Tuunainen

Virpi Kristiina Tuunainen is Professor of IS at the Department of Information and Service Economy of Aalto University School of Business (Finland). Her research focuses on ICT enabled or enhanced services and customer and community digital innovation. Her work has appeared in journals, such as, MIS Quarterly, European Journal of Information Systems, Communications of the ACM, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Information & Management and Information Society; and in conferences, such as, ICIS, ECIS and HICSS. 

Daniel Veit

Daniel Veit is Professor of Information Systems and Management at the Faculty of Business and Economics of University of Augsburg (Germany). He holds a master’s degree in Mathematics from University of Giessen and a Doctoral degree in Business Economics from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. His research focuses on market mechanisms, sustainability related topics as well as business model and entrepreneurial concepts in and beyond Information Systems including questions regarding multichannel commerce, privacy, digital healthcare and sharing economy. His work appeared in international journals and conferences amongst others the Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Service Research, Business & Information Systems Engineering and the European Journal of Operational Research as well as the proceedings of the ICIS, ECIS, AMCIS, HICSS, AMA and INFORMS conference series.