Twitter Users’ Privacy Behavior: A Reasoned Action Approach
Social networking sites have become a predominant means of communication across the globe. Activities on these sites generate massive amounts of personal information and raise concerns about its potential abuse. Means designed to protect the user’s privacy and prevent exploitation of confidential da...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Social Media + Society |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221126085 |
| _version_ | 1818029784490311680 |
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| author | Peter Schmidt Galit Gordoni Icek Ajzen Christoph Beuthner Eldad Davidov Henning Silber Holger Steinmetz Bernd Weiß |
| author_facet | Peter Schmidt Galit Gordoni Icek Ajzen Christoph Beuthner Eldad Davidov Henning Silber Holger Steinmetz Bernd Weiß |
| author_sort | Peter Schmidt |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Social networking sites have become a predominant means of communication across the globe. Activities on these sites generate massive amounts of personal information and raise concerns about its potential abuse. Means designed to protect the user’s privacy and prevent exploitation of confidential data often go unused. In this study, we draw on the theory of planned behavior, a reasoned action approach, to explain intentions to adopt privacy behaviors on social networking sites, with a focus on Twitter users. Consistent with the theory, an online survey of Twitter users ( n = 1,060) found that instrumental and experiential attitudes and descriptive and injunctive subjective norms regarding these behaviors were direct predictors of intentions. Perceived behavioral control had a moderating effect, such that subjective norm was a better predictor of intentions for participants high as opposed to low in perceived control. We briefly discuss the implications of these results for developing theory-driven and evidence-based interventions to promote privacy behavior. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T05:25:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3bfdb2fdf039465b9a1f2c557dfa3991 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-3051 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T05:25:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Media + Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-3bfdb2fdf039465b9a1f2c557dfa39912022-12-22T02:00:42ZengSAGE PublishingSocial Media + Society2056-30512022-09-01810.1177/20563051221126085Twitter Users’ Privacy Behavior: A Reasoned Action ApproachPeter Schmidt0Galit Gordoni1Icek Ajzen2Christoph Beuthner3Eldad Davidov4Henning Silber5Holger Steinmetz6Bernd Weiß7University Medical Center Mainz, GermanyThe Open University of Israel, IsraelUniversity of Massachusetts, USAGESIS—Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences, GermanyUniversity of Zurich, SwitzerlandGESIS—Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences, GermanyUniversity of Trier, GermanyGESIS—Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences, GermanySocial networking sites have become a predominant means of communication across the globe. Activities on these sites generate massive amounts of personal information and raise concerns about its potential abuse. Means designed to protect the user’s privacy and prevent exploitation of confidential data often go unused. In this study, we draw on the theory of planned behavior, a reasoned action approach, to explain intentions to adopt privacy behaviors on social networking sites, with a focus on Twitter users. Consistent with the theory, an online survey of Twitter users ( n = 1,060) found that instrumental and experiential attitudes and descriptive and injunctive subjective norms regarding these behaviors were direct predictors of intentions. Perceived behavioral control had a moderating effect, such that subjective norm was a better predictor of intentions for participants high as opposed to low in perceived control. We briefly discuss the implications of these results for developing theory-driven and evidence-based interventions to promote privacy behavior.https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221126085 |
| spellingShingle | Peter Schmidt Galit Gordoni Icek Ajzen Christoph Beuthner Eldad Davidov Henning Silber Holger Steinmetz Bernd Weiß Twitter Users’ Privacy Behavior: A Reasoned Action Approach Social Media + Society |
| title | Twitter Users’ Privacy Behavior: A Reasoned Action Approach |
| title_full | Twitter Users’ Privacy Behavior: A Reasoned Action Approach |
| title_fullStr | Twitter Users’ Privacy Behavior: A Reasoned Action Approach |
| title_full_unstemmed | Twitter Users’ Privacy Behavior: A Reasoned Action Approach |
| title_short | Twitter Users’ Privacy Behavior: A Reasoned Action Approach |
| title_sort | twitter users privacy behavior a reasoned action approach |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221126085 |
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