Privacy matters: reexamining internet privacy concern among social media users in a cross-cultural setting

ABSTRACT

As internet privacy concern (IPC) keeps spiking, it is imperative to reexamine privacy concern among social media users in a cross-cultural context. Using the purposive sampling method, this study recruited 1,340 social media users aged 18–82 in the United State and China. It integrates medium theory and cultural perspectives to study IPC by analyzing the technological antecedents of social media use among young users who grew up with social media and their “digital immigrant” parents who did not. U.S. and Chinese respondents were concerned about IPC regardless of their genders. Young people reported a lower IPC level than elder users. IPC was negatively related to social media power use, but not to social media habitual use. Some cultural differences were revealed. Among those aged 18–25, U.S. users had significantly lower IPC than their Chinese counterparts. In those aged 50+, little difference concerning IPC existed between U.S. and Chinese users. This study represents the first attempt of integrating both technology and cultural perspectives to examine internet privacy concern. The findings, including one’s cultural background moderating the association between social media power use and IPC, should contribute to a better understanding of privacy concerns in a cross-cultural setting.

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bu Zhong

Bu Zhong ([email protected]) is a professor at School of Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University and Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, Pennsylvania State University. He is also an affiliate professor at College of Information Sciences and Technology, Pennsylvania State University. His research applies decision-making theories to the analysis of information processing and its effects on behavior, cognition, mental health, and social well-being.

Tao Sun

Tao Sun ([email protected]) is an associate tenured professor at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences University of Vermont. His current research interests cover cross-cultural consumer behavior, international media development, and online word of mouth communication.

Yu Zhou

Yu Zhou ([email protected]) is an associate professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, South China University of Technology. His research investigates a variety of media effects, including news, sports and health information.

Lola Xie

Lola Xie ([email protected]) is a Ph.D. Candidate at Donald P. Bellisario College of Communication, Pennsylvania State University. Her research focuses on adoption of media technology in health communications, and its influences on individual health behaviors.