Technology Use and Norm Change in Online Privacy: Experimental Evidence From Vignette Studies

• In Event: 1452 - Group Bonding and Binding: Cohesion, Morality, and Social Norms

Abstract

The recent privacy debate has been shaped by the so-called “privacy paradox”, i.e. the common finding that users’ stated privacy attitudes differ from their privacy behavior. We argue that this discrepancy may, in part, be due to norms that reflect typical behaviors but are not necessarily consistent with individual attitudes. In particular, we propose that (1) the popularity of a potentially privacy-violating technology has a positive effect on individuals’ normative privacy expectations (i.e. expectations that others approve of privacy-violating behaviors by the technology provider); (2) the frequency of privacy violations by technology providers in general has a positive effect on individuals’ behavioral privacy expectations (i.e. expectations that a specific technology provider will engage in privacy-violating behaviors); (3) popularity of the technology increases and violation frequency decreases trust in a technology provider; (4) normative expectations and trust increase and behavioral expectations decrease individuals’ willingness to use a technology. We test our propositions in a series of vignette experiments in the context of smart meter apps for household energy control. Our results support our propositions and corroborate that descriptive norms and trust in technology providers are significant drivers of normative change in online privacy attitudes and behavior. Our findings have implications for understanding the privacy paradox.

Authors

• Christine Horne, Washington State University

• Wojtek Przepiorka, Utrecht University