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Internet Culture And Information Privacy Concerns In Developing Countries

Individual Internet influenced and country level culture have been posited to affect consumers’ privacy concerns. This study examines how cultural factors and Internet experience influence individual’s information privacy concerns from Brazil, China, and Romania. Regression models, estimated with primary survey data collected from 18-30 year olds who use the Internet, are used to test research hypotheses derived from the literature to explain within-country privacy concern. The study also measures the differences in privacy concerns across countries. A hierarchical regression model explores the relative influence of Internet culture at the individual level versus country specific influences in explaining differences in privacy concern. INTRODUCTION Consumers’ use of the Internet continues to expand worldwide with many developing countries experiencing double digit growth rates applied to the previous small percentage of Internet users. As the Internet in developing countries is used for email communication, information gathering, and online purchasing, the potential for privacy abuse exists, which may limit the rate of adoption or consumers’ activities while on the net. While evaluating factors affecting Internet users’ privacy concern has been examined in the US (Cranor, Reagle and Ackerman 2000; Sheehan and Hoy 1999; 2000), with a few exceptions (e.g. Belman et al 2004; Singh and Hill 2003; Smith 2001; Milberg et. al. 1995), there is a paucity of published research that has examined these issues outside the US. This research is an effort to address the call for examining information privacy issues associated with the Internet in the international realm (Caudill and Murphy 2000; Milne 2000). Expanding the scope of privacy research beyond the US permits a better understanding how cultural dimensions affect privacy concerns. Early research in privacy has noted that culture can explain differences in privacy attitudes (Westin 1967). However, in the extant marketing literature, culture is an amorphous construct, with some researchers measuring it at national level (Hofstede 1991, 2001), intra-cultural or sub national (Au 1999; Lenartowicz and Roth 2001) and individual levels (e.g., Triandis and Gelfand 1998). Pertinent to this study is the notion of a possible global Internet culture, where Internet consumers from around the globe are relatively homogeneous in their attitudes and behaviors (Nicovich and Cornwell 1998). Some support for this position is found by the fact that demographics of International Internet users tend to skew younger (Pastore 2001) and reflect a segment that is more likely to embrace the Internet. The possibility exists that for many countries, the Internet culture and national culture may conflict (Nicovich and Cornwell 1998). Under these conditions it is reasonable to expect that individual beliefs toward cultural attitudes may explain differences in privacy attitudes. In addition to cultural determinants, experience on the Internet may also explain differences among individuals’ attitudes toward privacy concerns. For example, U.S. consumers have been found to exhibit a decrease in sensitivity to online privacy issues with Internet experience (Lohse et al, 2000). For many consumers in countries where access to markets is underdeveloped, the Internet (along with wireless technology), expands consumers ability to communicate, access information and make purchases. Email, in particular, has fueled consumers in developing countries foray to the Internet. However, along with this new form of communication on a distributed network is the risk that personal information that is relayed might not be treated securely and that consumer privacy might be compromised.