Acedemic Lecture:Privacy Concerns for Mobile App Downloading: An Elaboration Likelihood Model Perspective

Author:系统管理员Release Time:2015-10-13View:8

Time: 10:15-11:45 Oct. 15th, 2015
Venue: Room 335, School of Economics & Management
Speaker: Prof. XU yunjie, Fudan University
Abstract: In the mobile age, protecting users’ personal information from malicious apps becomes increasingly critical. To warn users against malicious apps, a few Android app stores start to prominently disclose app permissions on the app downloading page. Focusing on this emerging practice, this study investigates the effects of contextual cues (i.e., perceived permission sensitivity, permission justification and perceived app popularity) on Android users’ privacy concerns, download intention, and their contingent effects dependent on users’ mobile privacy victim experience. Drawing on the Elaboration Likelihood Model, our empirical results suggest that perceived permission sensitivity makes users more concerned about their privacy, while permission justification and perceived app popularity make them less concerned. Interestingly, users’ mobile privacy victim experience negatively moderates the effect of permission justification. In particular, permission justification makes users less concerned about their privacy only for those with less mobile privacy victim experience. Results also reveal a positive effect of perceived app popularity and a negative effect of privacy concerns on download intention. This study contributes to a better understanding of Android users’ privacy concerns in the app downloading stage, and proposes and tests emerging privacy protection mechanisms including the prominent disclosure of app permissions and the provision of permission justifications.