How internet use affects personal privacy risk perception: empirical evidence from China

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to empirically examine the relationship between Internet use and personal privacy risk perceptions, the mediating effect of trust and the moderating effect of satisfaction on that relationship, which is exactly conducive to the practice of personal information protection.Design/methodology/approachA moderated mediation model will be employed to test the hypothesized relationships using the 2017 Chinese Society Survey data.FindingsThe authors find that Internet use positively relates to citizens' risk perceptions toward privacy security, and trust partially mediates the relationship between Internet use and privacy risk perception. In addition, the analysis of moderating effects showed that satisfaction with social life significantly enhances the negative impact on individuals' privacy risk perceptions of interpersonal trust. The positively moderating effect of satisfaction with local governments' work mainly reveals the relationship between interpersonal trust (or institutional trust) and citizens' privacy risk perception. Moreover, satisfaction with Internet platforms positively moderates the relationship between consumer trust and privacy risk perception.Originality/valueThis article contributes to the social risk amplification framework by applying it to the personal privacy information protection field, which was rarely discussed before. It also enriches privacy research by identifying the internal mechanism of how Internet use influences citizens' risk perceptions towards privacy information leakage.