Digital security concerns and threats facing women entrepreneurs

Abstract

Women represent the main economic force in most developing countries. As economies become more and more information-driven, the issues of women's access to and the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) are growing in importance for both developed and developing economies. Some claim that women are rather technophobic and that men are much better users of digital tools while others argue that women enthusiastically embrace digital communication.The ease with which information and communication technologies can transmit and disseminate information for development is well recognized. However, women's access to ICTs cannot be assumed to occur 'naturally' when gender-blind approaches and technologies are implemented. As a result of profound, gendered applications and implications of ICTs in employment, education, training, and other areas of life, women need encouragement and support to take their rightful place in the information revolution. Research has demonstrated that security and privacy in use of ICT, especially in the internet, are the most important thematic areas of gender concerns which include freedom of expression, privacy of communication, and secure online spaces where vulnerable groups such as women feel unsafe from harassment. The main concern that discourages women to enter dynamically into e-business market is the disclosure of their personal information compared with men who appear willing to be sacrificing their privacy at the altar of profit of electronic commerce. The aims of this research are the following: firstly, to present digital threats and risks facing women entrepreneurs daily while interacting with online communities, secondly, to study security gaps that the privacy policies of popular pages contain, and lastly, to give proof that women justifiably worry about their security and privacy when using online communities and virtual worlds, like the social networking sites. It is certain that these pages are insufficient regarding the privacy of their users due to the lack of adequate security measures letting personal data be exposed and available to others.

Mobile Healthcare Adoption among Patients in a Developing Country Environment: Exploring the Influence of Age and Gender Differences

“…Thus, security and privacy issues are not influenced by gender differences in relation to the adoption of m-healthcare. However, literature has reported that women tend to be influenced more strongly by security and privacy issues than men (Fogel & Nehmad, 2009;Wilkowska & Ziefle, 2011;Michota, 2013).…”

“…Yet, extensive empirical analysis established that women have the tendency to demonstrate lower degrees of trust perceptions toward adoption of online channel for purchase when compared with men (Cho & Jialin, 2008;Dennis et al, 2010;Santos & Fernandes, 2011). In fact, it is apparent from literature that women generally perceive higher level of risk and uncertainty than men when making an adoption decision, and this leads women to report higher degree of security/privacy concerns than men (Jensen et al, 2005;Fogel & Nehmad, 2009;Michota, 2013). Therefore, women will be more reluctance to release their sensitive personal health data and this may well hamper the pace of adoption of technology-assisted healthcare systems such as e-healthcare and m-healthcare technologies (Wilkowska & Ziefle, 2011).…”

Familial legacies: a study on Gujarati women and family entrepreneurship

“…There exist distinct views. Some researches suggests a gender gap when it comes to ICT access with women lagging behind men, a gap that is regularly reducing (Montagnier and van Welsum, 2006;Dutta and Bilbao-Osorio 2012;Michota, 2013). In a contrasting argument, women have been observed reflecting pronounced proficiency in adopting new technology (Turkle, 1995).…”

Influence of Perceived Risk Dimensions on e-Shopping Behavioural Intention among Women—A Family Life Cycle Stage Perspective

“…Older shoppers (Gen X) are not inclined towards discounts and promotions and are sophisticated in their buying behavior [98]. Furthermore, despite being less aware of financial risks involved in e-shopping compared to their younger counterparts, they tend to generally avoid risk than younger shoppers [99,100]. Hence the financial risk perceived by the later LC stages would be higher than the early LC stages.…”

“…Privacy concerns are major inhibitors to e-shopping acceptance among both new and experienced users [130], especially among women as they are technophobic and less susceptible to use digital technology [100]. Studies have shown that people with online shopping experience may be aware of privacy risk [29].…”