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Privacy calculus model for online social networks: a study of Facebook users in a Malaysian university

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Abstract

The increasing daily use of Online Social Networks (OSN) around the world leads to more issues related to user privacy behaviour in this attractive environment. While users can get many benefits by using OSN services, they have many concerns regarding their information privacy at the same time. Despite their privacy concerns, users are still using these platforms and still sharing more personal information or self-disclosing. The main objective of this research is to propose a conceptual model that is built based on a cost–benefit analysis of the privacy calculus theory to explain user privacy behaviour in the OSN environment. Both paper and online questionnaires were created to collect data directly from active users of the Facebook platform in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM). The total number of respondents was two hundred and twenty-five (225). The PLS-SEM technique was applied to test the research hypotheses and assess the proposed research model. The four research hypotheses are all supported, negative relationships have been found between the privacy concerns variable and both self-disclosure amount (β = -0.213) and self-disclosure depth (β = -0.232) variables. While positive relationships are found between the perceived benefits variable and h of self-disclosure amount (β = 0.445) and self-disclosure depth (β = 0.353) variables.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Advanced IPv6 Centre (NAv6), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang, Malaysia

    Shafiq Ul Rehman & Selvakumar Manickam

  2. Department of Computer Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq

    Ahmed Al-Charchafchi

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  1. Shafiq Ul Rehman
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  2. Selvakumar Manickam
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  3. Ahmed Al-Charchafchi
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Correspondence to Selvakumar Manickam.

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Rehman, S.U., Manickam, S. & Al-Charchafchi, A. Privacy calculus model for online social networks: a study of Facebook users in a Malaysian university. Educ Inf Technol 28, 7205–7223 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022-11459-w

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