The Impact of Data Vulnerability in Online Health Communities: An Institutional Assurance Perspective

Abstract

In the last few years, online health communities (OHCs) have experienced rapid development due to advances in technology and the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the sensitive nature of medical information has also raised concerns from users about their privacy and reduced their intention to use OHCs. Considering the critical role of data privacy, this study explored the effect of data vulnerability on OHC users. Using online survey data collected from 438 OHC users in China, we found that data vulnerability significantly reduced psychological comfort, while the latter enhanced continuance intention. We also found that psychological comfort negatively mediated the impact of data vulnerability on continuance intention. Institutional assurance approaches, namely privacy policy, privacy protection technology, industry self-regulation, and government legislation, were also found to mitigate the negative impact of data vulnerability on psychological comfort. This study not only contributes to the data privacy, psychological comfort, and institutional assurance literature but also offers suggestions for OHC stakeholders.

Demystifying the Combined Effect of Consistency and Seamlessness on the Omnichannel Customer Experience: A Polynomial Regression Analysis

“…Data vulnerability refers to customers' feelings of being susceptible to harm because their personal data is possessed by firms [25,50]. The data management practices of firms, which include collecting, storing, and using customer data, are likely to trigger this negative perception [25].…”

“…Thus, omnichannel shopping, by generating various types of customer data, may result in data vulnerability for customers. Research has suggested that data vulnerability can directly reduce trust [25], the perceived effectiveness of privacy policies [51], and psychological comfort [50]. Thus, a high level of data vulnerability creates a boundary turbulence situation, which may influence the relationships between omnichannel firms and their customers [52].…”

“…In the digital age, the vulnerability of customer data has received increasing attention [25]. Research has verified that data vulnerability can result in several negative consequences, such as emotional violation [25], lower psychological comfort [50], and higher privacy concerns [52]. However, little research has explored the moderating role of data vulnerability.…”

SenRev: Measurement of Personal Information Disclosure in Online Health Communities

“…Second, X-Rays images are often shared in OHC. These images not only show tissues and structures inside the human body, but also contain the patient's sensitive information such as name, age, and sex [47,85]. Third, users may attach an image of the body part (e.g., faces, hands) with the post to show the current condition of infections or diseases.…”

“…These sites connect patients with caregivers, physicians, clinicians, nurses, and even other individuals (non-healthcare-workers) to share their medical problems and seek experts' suggestions [41]. To describe their symptoms, people often share information about their family history, medical history, and images of relevant testing results on these websites [47].…”