Sabine Trepte|Leonard Reinecke|Nicole B. Ellison|Oliver Quiring|Mike Yao|Marc Ziegele
A Cross-Cultural Perspective on the Privacy Calculus
University of Hohenheim|Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz|University of Michigan–Ann Arbor|Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz|University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign|Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
privacy calculus approach studying online privacy implies willingness engage disclosures social network sites snss depends evaluation resulting risks benefits article propose cultural factors influence perception privacy risks social gratifications based survey data collected participants five countries germany n 740 netherlands n 89 united kingdom n 67 united states n 489 china n 165 successfully replicated privacy calculus furthermore found culture plays important role expected people cultures ranking high individualism found less important generate social gratifications snss compared people collectivistoriented countries however latter placed greater emphasis privacy riskspresumably safeguard collective furthermore identified uncertainty avoidance cultural dimension crucially influencing perception sns risks benefits expected people cultures ranking high uncertainty avoidance found privacy risks important making privacyrelated disclosure decisions time participants ascribed lower importance social gratificationspossibly social encounters perceived less controllable social media environment