Mobile users’ information privacy concerns instrument and IoT

Internet of Things (IoT) presents new privacy dilemmas. While IoT is becoming more common, a model to understand privacy concerns has not been established. The purpose of this paper is to examine an existing privacy model, the mobile users’ information privacy concerns (MUIPC), in the context of IoT.

A survey was distributed via email to 1,257 undergraduate students enrolled in a Carnegie Master’s level university in the mid-south; 192 students completed the survey, a response rate of 15.3%. SmartPLS, a structural equation modeling software, was used to evaluate the measurement model and to examine the relationships.

All relationships were significant at the 0.05 level indicating that the MUIPC model does appear to apply to IoT.

A convenience sample was used and the response rate was low and, therefore, may not be generalizable to another population.

This research demonstrates the MUIPC is indeed applicable to privacy research within IoT, thus opening another avenue for future research and confirms the influence of information privacy upon intention within the IoT realm.