Elsevier

Computers in Human Behavior

Volume 58, May 2016, Pages 214-220
Computers in Human Behavior

Full length article
Living in a big data world: Predicting mobile commerce activity through privacy concerns

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.12.050Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Data gleaned from personal mobile devices has become a central focus.

  • CPM theory: personal information shared via CMC protected by privacy boundaries.

  • Privacy concerns predict mobile commerce attitudes and engagement.

  • Concerns: collection, control, awareness, trust, unauthorized use, location tracking.

  • Results: control, unauthorized use, trust significantly predict 43% of variance.

Abstract

As advertisers increasingly rely on mobile-based data, consumer perceptions regarding the collection and use of such data becomes of great interest to scholars and practitioners. Recent industry data suggests advertisers seeking to leverage personal data offered via mobile devices would be wise to acknowledge and address the privacy concerns held by mobile users. Utilizing the theoretical foundation of communication privacy management (CPM), the current study investigates commonly understood privacy concerns such as collection, control, awareness, unauthorized secondary use, improper access and a newly adapted dimension of location tracking, trust in mobile advertisers, and attitudes toward mobile commerce, to predict mobile commerce engagement. Data from this study indicate that control, unauthorized access, trust in mobile advertisers, and attitude toward mobile commerce significantly predicted 43% of the variance in mobile commerce activity.

Section snippets

Big data

The collection of personal data, once the exclusive domain of governments and state agencies, is now an inescapable part of every day life for U.S. consumers (Lyon, 2001). Half a century after computers entered mainstream society, personal data has begun to accumulate to the point where it is increasingly difficult to grasp its magnitude, much less manage the potential implications it represents to business and society Defined by Mayer-Schoenberger and Cukier (2013) as data sets so large that

Information privacy and trust

Consumers' mobile information privacy concerns are largely rooted in the rapidly expanding big data ecosystem (Cleff, 2007). Conceptualized as the rights of individuals whose information is communicated to others, information privacy and the protection of personal data have long been viewed as fundamental human rights. Currently, human recognition (or “personally-identifiable information”) is portrayed as the legal threshold condition for the loss of anonymity or privacy (Schwartz & Solove, 2011

Personalized mobile advertising

As consumers increasingly integrate mobile technologies into their lives, the information amassed by these devices not only offers users an array of conveniences and benefits, but also presents opportunities for third parties to access their personal data for other purposes. Personalized mobile advertising utilizing big data has evolved almost as quickly as the technology that makes it possible. Industry studies reveal that expenditures on mobile advertising have skyrocketed in recent years and

Theoretical foundation

Advancing technology has generated new forms of communication that span the structural and functional characteristics of mass mediated and interpersonal communication. As a result, some scholars look to mass communication theories such as uses and gratifications (U&G) to explain online and mobile communication behaviors (e.g., Jun and Lee, 2007, LaRose and Eastin, 2004); while others argue that interpersonal communication paradigms such as expectancy violations theory (Dolnicar & Jordaan, 2007)

Sample

Participants consisted of 416 U.S. adults (46% male, 54% female) from a broad range of ages (35% 18–24, 34% 25–34, 14% 35–44, 11% 45–54, 8% 55+) and educational backgrounds (3% no degree, 11% high school graduate, 39% completed some college, 36% college graduate, 12% some graduate school experience). Smartphone usage also varied among the sample with 4% indicating they did not own a smartphone. Among those who did, 11% used one for a year or less, 14% used one for 1–2 years, 18% used one for

Results

After entering the demographic variables of gender, age, income and prior mobile phone use were entered into block 1, block 2 indicated that while the privacy concerns of collection (H2b), awareness (H2c) and location (H2e) were not significant predictors of mobile commerce activity, control (H2a) and unauthorized access (H2d) were significant predictors. Further, as predicted in H1 and H3, trust in mobile advertisers and attitude toward mobile commerce were significant predictors of mobile

Discussion

The way in which U.S. marketers and policy makers address the ownership, collection, and use of personal data is of increasing importance to consumers. As predicted by CPM theory, findings from the current study demonstrate that concerns about perceived control and unauthorized access to personal information have a significant negative influence m-commerce activity. While many marketers feel they have grasped the ability to deliver effective messages based on consumers' personal information,

Limitations and conclusions

As with most research, the present study has limitations that should be noted. To begin, while the sample was diverse across age, gender, and education, using an online panel to examine issues related to technology could present a bias. Related, ceiling effects were detected in the collection, awareness, and unauthorized secondary use measures. This type of effect typically restricts scale variance. That said, ceiling effects and variance restrictions only work to attenuate relationships, and

References (58)

  • D. Buckingham

    Introducing identity

    Youth, Identity, and Digital Media

    (2008)
  • P. Callius

    Advertising avoidance: The quiet consumer revolt

    (2008)
  • Cisco

    VNI global IP traffic forecast, 2013–2018

    (2014)
  • E. Cleff

    Privacy issues in mobile advertising

    International Review of Law Computers and Technology

    (2007)
  • M. Culnan

    How did they get my name?: An exploratory investigation of consumer attitudes toward secondary information use

    MIS Quarterly

    (1993)
  • M. Culnan et al.

    Information privacy concerns, procedural fairness, and impersonal trust: an empirical investigation

    Organizational Science

    (1999)
  • W. Davis

    Lawmakers call for stronger do-not-track standards

    (2015)
  • S. Dolnicar et al.

    A market-oriented approach to responsibly managing information privacy concerns in direct marketing

    Journal of Advertising

    (2007)
  • S. Dutta et al.

    The global information technology report 2014 – Rewards and risks of big data

    (2014)
  • Federal Trade Commission

    Protecting consumer privacy in an era of rapid change: A proposed framework for businesses and policymakers

    (2010)
  • T. Galizia et al.

    Gold rush: The scramble to claim and protect value in the digital world

    (2011)
  • J. Gantz et al.

    The digital universe in 2020: Big data, bigger digital shadows, and biggest growth in the far east

    (2012)
  • D. Gefen et al.

    Trust and TAM in online shopping: an integrated model

    MIS Quarterly

    (2003)
  • R.T. Golembiewski et al.

    The centrality of interpersonal trust in group processes

    Theories of Group Processes

    (1975)
  • IBM

    Big data

    (2013)
  • Internet Advertising Bureau

    IAB internet advertising revenue report

    (2015)
  • J.W. Jun et al.

    Mobile media use and its impact on consumer attitudes toward mobile advertising

    International Journal of Mobile Marketing

    (2007)
  • H. Karjaluoto et al.

    Consumers' attitudes towards and intention to participate in mobile marketing

    International Journal of Services Technology and Management

    (2007)
  • P. Kim et al.

    Removing the shadow of suspicion: the effects of apology versus denial for repairing competence-versus integrity-based trust violations

    Journal of Applied Psychology

    (2004)
  • Cited by (0)

    View full text