The Australasian Journal of Information Systems (AJIS) began in 1993 and was based on the simple realisation that there was a need for an academic ‘outlet’ for IS research in Australia
Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
INFORMATION PRIVACY: CULTURE, LEGISLATION AND USER ATTITUDES
Sophie Cockcroft
Business School
University of Queensland
Brisbane, Australia
Email: s.cockcroft@business.uq.edu.au
ABSTRACT
Information privacy has received much public and research interest in recent years.
Globally this has arisen from public anxiety following the September 11 attacks and
within Australia a progressive tightening of privacy legislation in particular the
privacy amendment (private sector) Act of 2000 which became operative in 2001.
This paper presents the results of a study into attitudes towards information privacy.
Based on an instrument developed and validated by Smith et al (1996a) this study sets
out to measure individual concerns regarding organisational use of information along
four dimensions: collection, errors, unauthorised secondary use, and improper access.
The survey was completed by 67 undergraduate and postgraduate students enrolled in
an e-commerce security subject at the University of Queensland. Comparisons are
drawn between the results of this study and an identical one carried out at the
University of North Alabama. Whilst it is too early to draw conclusions about the
impact of these attitudes on the success of e-commerce in general, the results should
be of interest to those within universities seeking to expand the use of networking
technologies for handling sensitive information such as enrolment and fee processing
(Vanscoy & Oakleaf 2003)
Keywords: IS Security, Information Policy, Managing IS
INTRODUCTION
Electronic commerce has become a reality the expansion of telecommunications capabilities has
meant that the information age is upon us. This has made it easy for companies to gather and store
vast amounts of consumer data. Whilst this can lead to competitive advantage for the firms
concerned it heightens concerns over information privacy for the individual. This study aims to
explore the level of concern regarding information privacy issues and to identify factors associated
with possible differences in those attitudes. We compare results with a university based study at the
University of North Alabama (UNA) (Alexander 1998). This study was chosen because it uses the
raw, unaltered version of an instrument originally developed and validated by Smith, Milberg and
Burke (1996a). It was also used in an earlier study by the same authors (Milberg et al. 1995). Many
authors have since used the 15 question instrument as starting point for further research, but in these
studies the instrument was adapted (Bellman et al. 2004a; Liu et al. 2004; Malhotra, Kim &
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
Agarwal 2004a; Smith, Milberg & Burke 1996b). It measures participants' attitudes along four
dimensions; collection, errors, improper access, and secondary use.
The paper is organised as follows. In the following section the theoretical framework of the study is
laid down. Next, the research process is described. In the penultimate section the key findings are
presented and compared with findings in the two earlier studies that used the same instrument.
Finally the contributions of the study and suggestions for further work are explored.
INFORMATION PRIVACY
Legal background
In the past ten years there has been increasing global interest in privacy. Media attention has
focussed people's attention on information privacy and their right to it (Henderson 1999). There are
two broad means by which personal information privacy can be achieved; company self regulation,
and government legislation. An appropriate level of privacy protection is essential for successful E-
commerce (Forder & Quirk 2001). The European Union and the United States lie at two ends of the
spectrum regarding their approaches. In the US the Clinton administration saw privacy concerns as
a threat to the development of e-commerce. It considered that private industry working in
cooperation with consumer groups was preferable to government regulation (Culnan 2000). Europe
has taken a much more hands on approach with the passing of the EU directive on privacy that came
into effect in 1998 (EU 1998). This directive established minimum standards for processing and use
of personal data. In Australia the Privacy act of 1988 applied only to federal government agencies.
There was a long period in which state and federal governments have been uncertain whether to
introduce legislation that applies to the public and private sectors. This uncertainty was resolved in
1999 when the privacy amendment act (private sector) was proposed. This came into force in
December 2001 (Australian Privacy Commissioner 2000). Given that e-commerce has to occur in a
global environment, these differing approaches can cause some conflict, and have the potential to
hinder the smooth running of commercial operations. It is imperative that there is cooperation
between citizens, merchants and governments of different nations. A full examination of the legal
implications of assuring privacy is beyond the scope of this paper. It is the role of citizens in this
three-way cooperation that is of interest here.
The main aim is to take a closer look at individuals’ privacy concerns, and to contribute to the body
of research that informs regulation, both self and governmental. A key feature of the study is the
use of a validated instrument, which makes the results readily comparable to past and future studies.
Like the previous study mentioned, (Alexander 1998), this study uses students as its subject. Whilst
the results of this study may not necessarily be generalised to the population as a whole, they are
likely, at the least, to be of interest to system developers and policy makers within the university
setting. Records maintained by universities are, by their nature and by law, private. However
universities are increasingly expected to provide access to information through networking
technologies these include systems for managing enrolment, grades and payment of fees. For
example at the University of Queensland a system called SI-Net that supports these activities is
undergoing an extensive upgrade (Student Systems Group 2006). Initiatives such as these heighten
the need for vigilance regarding the security of these records.
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
The role of social and demographic factors
Researchers in this area have identified a number of factors influencing individual’s attitudes to
information privacy. In particular frequency of use has been associated with lower levels of
concern about privacy issues, and less experience with higher levels of anxiety (reported in
(Alexander 1998)). Researchers have also explored the effects of gender, age and personality type
on attitudes to information privacy (Vance 2000). Of interest in Australia was the Roy Morgan Poll
which found that younger Australians (14-24) were least fearful, and women were more inclined to
be worried about privacy issues (Roy Morgan 1999). Culnan (1993) made a particular study of
secondary information use which she defined as
"the use of personal information for other purposes subsequent to the original transaction
between an individual and an organization when the information was collected".
The key finding of this study was that concern over secondary use was correlated with the level of
control the individual has over the secondary use. This type of control is exemplified by American
Express, which agreed to inform its customers that it tracked their buying habits and used the data to
compile mailing lists, which it sold to other companies. American Express further agreed to notify
card holders of their ability to "opt out" of such lists (Crenshaw 1992) in (Culnan 1993) .
Milberg et al (1995) investigated cultural influences on attitudes to privacy amongst members of the
Information Systems Audit and Control Associations in a number of countries. One of their key
findings was that lower levels of privacy concern were associated with countries with no privacy
regulation and in countries which have the highest level of government involvement in corporate
privacy management. This is a complex relationship indicating that where there is little awareness
there is little concern and increasing levels of concern result in increasing legislation to the point
where concern again drops off. In order to classify the level of government involvement in
corporate privacy management they developed the scale illustrated in Figure 1. Australia was placed
in the middle of the scale under Data Commissioner, and the US was placed lower down the scale
under Voluntary control.
Figure 1 Level of Government Involvement in Corporate Privacy Management
(Milberg et al. 1995) p66
The studies mentioned in the first two paragraphs are hard to compare because they all used
different instruments and reviewed different dimensions. The following section explains how some
of the factors identified in earlier studies were tested, and how comparisons were made with studies
using the same instrument.
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RESEARCH METHOD
The survey is based on a parsimonious 15 question instrument developed by Smith, Milberg and
Burke (1996a):
Figure 2 Survey questions (Smith, Milberg & Burke 1996a, p170)
The survey was made available to the 100 students of a postgraduate subject "Securing the
Commercial Internet" and the 70 students in the undergraduate subject of the same name. There
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
were 52 valid responses in the postgraduate subject giving a response rate of 52% and 15 in the
undergraduate subject giving a response rate of 21% and an overall response rate of 39%. There
were 30 women in the survey and 36 men and one person did not state their gender In the sample
there were 34 students who identified themselves as being of Asian origin, 19 who identified
themselves as European/Australian and 14 who did not state their race/ethnicity. The survey was
delivered via WebCT, which has built in survey software that ensures the responses are anonymous.
Ethical approval was granted and students were given and overview of the project and assured that
their participation in no way related to the marks for the course, and that they could withdraw at any
time. Following this a consent form was signed.
In addition to the questions shown in Figure 2, further questions were asked about demographics
and other background factors described below that are often associated with attitudes to privacy.
The supplementary questions selected here, followed those of Alexander (1998) who carried out a
comparable university based study and related to skill level, and work environment. The
questionnaire measures participants' attitudes along four dimensions, as illustrated in Figure 3:
Collection
These questions deal with concerns about the volume of data being collected and the reasons for its
collection. The “Collection” subscale is made up of questions A,E,J and O shown in Figure 2. It is
reflected in principle 1 of the 10 privacy principles outlined in the Australian privacy amendment
act (Office of the Privacy Commissioner 2000) “An organisation must not collect personal
information unless the information is necessary for one or more of its functions or activities. An
organisation must collect personal information only by lawful and fair means and not in an
unreasonably intrusive way”.
Errors
Questions B,F,H and L of Figure 2 make up the “Errors” subscale. These questions examine
participants’ attitudes towards errors, both accidental and maliciously planted, and the steps
companies should take to avoid them. When an organization holds information about its customers
it should allow them to find out what that information is, and contest its accuracy and completeness
if they believe it is wrong. This is the underlying premise of the access/correction principle, another
of the 10 privacy principles outlined in the Australian privacy amendment act (Office of the Privacy
Commissioner 2000).
Improper access
The questions on improper access probe participants’ attitudes to who has access to their
information within the organisation that collects and stores it. The improper access subscale
measured by questions D, I and N reflects the principle of data security from the Australian privacy
amendment act which states that an organisation must take reasonable steps to protect the personal
information it holds from misuse and loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Secondary use
These questions relate to the common practice of using data for purposes other than those for which
it was collected. E.g collecting it for research and using it for marketing, or collecting data in the
course of normal credit card transactions and using it for marketing. In an Australian context this is
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
directly related to principle 2 of the privacy amendment act, use and disclosure, and measured by
items C,G, K and M in the instrument.
RESEARCH PROPOSITIONS
The analysis was conducted in two parts. First, comparisons were made between the results of this
study, and two previous studies that used the same instrument. Second with reference to the
literature review above, six factors were identified which have been shown to have an effect on
attitudes to privacy. These are illustrated in Figure 3 and the relevant research propositions are
identified below. These factors were tested using one-way ANOVA.
Years in
Job
Figure 3: Factors proposed to be associated with privacy concerns
Research propositions
A number of authors have proposed a negative relationship between years of work, and use of a
computer at work, and levels of privacy concern (Alexander 1998; Vance 2000). Another common
finding is that more experienced internet users will have lower levels of privacy concern (Bellman
et al. 2004b; Rose 2006). Rose (2006), for example, found that those who had used the internet for
more than 4 years had significantly lower levels of concern for internet privacy. This leads to the
first three proposals;
P1 More years at work is negatively associated with high levels of privacy concern,
P2 Self-reported skill level will be negatively associated high levels of privacy concern
(Alexander 1998),
P3 Use of a computer at work will be negatively associated with high levels of privacy concern
(Alexander 1998; Vance 2000).
Race or
Ethnic
Age
Gender
Use of
Computer
for Job
P3
Skill Level
Privacy
Concern
s
P6
P2
P5
P1
P4
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
Studies are emerging that explore the influence of national culture on attitudes to information
privacy (Dinev & Hart 2004; Heales & Cockcroft 2005; Rose 2006). In the context of government
surveillance Dinev et al. (2006) found that Italians had less concern for information privacy than
consumers in the US . In the current study, data collection did not take a fine grained approach to
culture, participants were simply asked their race or ethnic origin amongst the demographic
questions similar to earlier studies (Milberg et al. 1995; Whitman, Townsend & Hendrickson 1999).
The concept of culture, and its relationship to attitude to information privacy, is an area that requires
further research, however for this analysis it is proposed that:
P4 Race or ethnic origin significantly affects levels of privacy concern.
National polls conducted in Australia, both before and after the introduction of the privacy
amendment act, suggested that gender was significant in users’ concern for information privacy
(Morgan 1999; Office of the Privacy Commissioner 2004). More recently some marketing studies
have found that women have perceptions of greater risk in online transactions than do men
(Garbarino & Strahilevitz 2004) and more concern about information privacy (Phillip & Suri 2004).
Thus it is proposed:
P5 Gender significantly affects levels of privacy concern.
Several authors have found a negative correlation between age and privacy concern noting that
older internet users show a higher level of concern (Rose 2006) (Heales & Cockcroft 2005). This
led to the proposition that:
P6 Age is negatively associated with high levels of privacy concern. (Morgan 1999)
FINDINGS
The findings of this study are addressed under three headings, first in comparison to the Alabama
study, second with the 1995 Milberg study and finally in terms of testing the research propositions
identified.
Comparison with Alabama study
Table 1 shows the attitudes of students in this survey as compared to business students at the
University of Alabama (UNA). University of Queensland (UQ) students illustrate higher levels of
concern in all dimensions.
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
Undergraduate UQ
N=15
Postgraduate UQ
N=52
Overall UQ
N=67
Overall UNA
N=124
Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev. Mean Std. Dev.
Errors 6.00 0.74 5.35 1.03 5.50 1.00 5.51 1.15
Secondary
Use
6.63 0.52 6.28 0.84 6.36 0.79 6.1 1.24
Improper
Access
6.36 0.84 6.04 0.96 6.11 0.94 6.03 1.25
Collection 5.50 1.18 5.41 0.84 5.43 0.92 4.59 1.3
OVERALL 6.10 0.55 5.79 0.66 5.86 0.64 5.56 0.99
Table 1 Comparison with Alabama study
It will be noted that American students are generally less concerned about privacy which fits with
the Milberg study described earlier (Milberg et al. 1995). In addition postgraduate students appear
to be less concerned about privacy than undergraduate students on all dimensions except collection.
This is illustrated in figure 2:
4.5
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
Colle
cti
on
Sec
ond
ary
U
se
Erro
rs
Im
prop
er
Acc
ess
Undergraduate
UQ Mean
Postgraduate UQ
Mean
Overall UQ Mean
Overall UNA
Mean
Figure 2 Privacy concerns among business student at UNA and E-commerce Students at UQ
The original table in Milberg et al (1995), on which Table 2 is based, served to support the
hypothesis in that levels of concern are lower at each end of the governmental regulatory scale
illustrated in Figure 1 and higher in the middle. In this adapted table, countries are listed top-down
in the order of government involvement. Australia, Canada and New Zealand are in the middle
ground.
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
Collection Secondary Use Errors Improper Access
Thailand 4.7(4) 5.8(2) 5.2(3) 6(1)
France 5(4) 6.6(1) 5.5(3) 6.2(2)
Japan 4.9(4) 6.3(2) 5.6(3) 6.5(1)
United States 5.4(4) 6.1(1) 5.5(3) 5.9(2)
United States (UNA) 4.59(4) 6.10(1) 5.51(3) 6.03(2)
Australia 5.6(3) 6.6(1) 5.3(4) 5.8(2)
Australia (UQ) 5.43 (4) 6.36(1) 5.50 (3) 6.11(2)
Canada 5.7(4) 6.4(1) 5.6(3) 6.1(2)
New Zealand 5.3(3) 6.4(1) 5.2(4) 5.9(2)
Denmark 4.8(4) 6.2(1) 5.5(3) 6.1(2)
United Kingdom 5.2(4) 6(1) 5.6(3) 5.8(2)
Table 2 Level of information privacy concern by dimension in countries (adapted from (Milberg et
al. 1995)) First number represents the mean on a scale of 1-7 the number in parentheses represents
the dimensions rank in a given country.
4.5
5
5.5
6
6.5
7
Colle
cti
on
Sec
ond
ar
y U
se
Erro
rs
Im
prop
er
Acc
ess
United States
United States
(UNA)
Australia
Australia (UQ)
Figure 3. Australian and US attitudes to privacy. Mainstream data taken from (Milberg et al. 1995).
Student data taken from (Alexander 1998) at the University of North Alabama and the current
study.
The University of Queensland students go against their national trend in terms of how the concerns
are ranked. American students, as expected, appear to be less concerned about privacy than
Australian students. It is hard to judge the significance of this without further study of the make up
of these student groups, as we will see the UQ group was far from homogenous. The highlighted
part of the table is illustrated graphically in Figure 3.
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
Testing of research propositions
The six propositions identified were tested using analysis of variance (see Appendix). P1 was
partially accepted. Years at work positively correlated with privacy concerns over improper access.
P2 was rejected. Those reporting a higher level of skill were not significantly less concerned about
privacy. P3 was rejected because the significance was in the opposite direction than expected, i.e.
use of a computer at work was positively correlated with privacy concerns in one dimension. -
Those that use a computer at work are more likely to be concerned about improper access. P4 was
rejected; there was no relationship between race and privacy concerns. P5 was rejected; gender had
no effect on privacy concerns. P6 was accepted in one dimension age is a significant factor in
concerns about improper access. Of the hypotheses that were accepted, there were no significant
two way effects between age, years at work and use of a computer at work.
DISCUSSION
The U.S. and Europe exhibit very different approaches to information privacy from both regulatory
and managerial perspectives. It seems that these differences are grounded in different cultural values
and assumptions about the meaning of privacy (a "human rights" issue in Europe versus a
contractual issue in the U.S.). Australia falls between the two.
This study supports earlier work in that the students in this study exhibited levels of privacy concern
appropriate to the cultural setting within which they find themselves, i.e. Australia. A closer
examination of the make up of the class brings into focus one of the limitations of the study. Two
thirds of the sample is of Asian decent, and it is impossible to tell whether this will affect their
attitudes since those who were brought up in Asia cannot be distinguished from those who are born
or naturalized Australians. The crude division of Asian vs. non-Asian is not reliable since the data
was gathered with a free-text field and respondents entered a variety of answers. If we stick with
this division a further findings emerges. Students of Asian origin are less concerned about privacy
than those of non-Asian origin.
The two other key findings were that those who used a computer at work were more likely to be
concerned about collection - this probably reflects a high level of concern relating to a broader class
of data than just their own personal data. It likely represents concerns relating to the management
of data in a work setting in general and possibly the data they personally collect and how it is stored.
A further interesting and possibly confounding factor is that these students were at the start of a
required course in security in e-commerce. This could have resulted in heightened awareness of
privacy and security in general. One aim of this study was to provide the students with an
opportunity to examine their own values and concerns in relation to privacy.
One limitation of the work is that whilst a number of studies have used the 15 question instrument
developed by Smith Milberg and Burke or adaptations thereof(Bellman et al. 2004b; Liu et al. 2004;
Malhotra, Kim & Agarwal 2004b; Smith, Milberg & Burke 1996a). Recently it has been suggested
that CFIP may be more parsimoniously represented as a higher-order factor than a correlated set of
first-order factors(Malhotra, Kim & Agarwal 2004b; Stewart & Segars 2002). Further work in this
area should proceed in cognisance of this new understanding.
This study contributes to the body of knowledge in the area of consumer privacy; it identifies
information practices that have the potential cause public concern along predefined dimensions and
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
particularly in an Australian context. Firms can use this information to self-regulate and develop
and promulgate proactive privacy policies as opposed to fielding complaints in reactive mode.
APPENDIX
Improper Access
Coefficients: Estimate Std.Error t value Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) 3.22065 1.17987 2.730 0.00878
age 0.02232 0.02582 0.864 0.39166
compjob 0.24866 0.10595 2.347 0.02301 *
skilllev 0.12498 0.14069 0.888 0.37870
gender 0.13328 0.25892 0.515 0.60903
newrace 0.03028 0.04430 0.684 0.49740
yearsjob -0.05681 0.03442 -1.651 0.10523
---
* p<.05
Residual standard error: 0.8621 on 49 degrees of freedom
Multiple R-Squared: 0.1959, Adjusted R-squared: 0.09743
F-statistic: 1.99 on 6 and 49 DF, p-value: 0.08516
Coefficients: Estimate Std.Error t value Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) 4.46836 0.64955 6.879 7.06e-09
compjob 0.28076 0.09852 2.850 0.00622 **
yearsjob -0.03682 0.02401 -1.533 0.13111
---
** p<.01
Residual standard error: 0.8463 on 53 degrees of freedom
Multiple R-Squared: 0.1619, Adjusted R-squared: 0.1302
F-statistic: 5.118 on 2 and 53 DF, p-value: 0.009283
Secondary Use
Coefficients: Estimate Std.Error t value Pr(>|t|)
(Intercept) 4.10130 0.99648 4.116 0.000147
age 0.04479 0.02181 2.054 0.045332 *
compjob 0.08946 0.08948 1.000 0.322332
skilllev 0.04340 0.11882 0.365 0.716480
gender 0.30027 0.21868 1.373 0.175969
newrace 0.00186 0.03741 0.050 0.960548
yearsjob -0.04145 0.02907 -1.426 0.160215
---
* p<.05
Residual standard error: 0.7281 on 49 degrees of freedom
Multiple R-Squared: 0.1375, Adjusted R-squared: 0.03183
F-statistic: 1.301 on 6 and 49 DF, p-value: 0.2743
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
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Australasian Journal of Information Systems Volume 14 Number 1 Nov 2006
THE AUTHOR
Sophie Cockcroft is a member of the information systems group at the
University of Queensland Business School. Her primary research
interests relate to data quality, integrity control, and data modelling
specifically in the application areas of geographic and medical
information systems. More recently she has been looking at the effects
of National Culture on attitudes to Information privacy and software
development. Her publications have appeared in the Information and
Software Technology, Journal of Global Information Technology
Management, and GeoInformatica. She teaches courses relating to
information systems development, including analysis and design of
electronic commerce and www applications and security. Sophie has
previously been an academic at City University, Hong Kong and
Otago University, New Zealand. Prior to becoming an academic,
Sophie worked in accountancy and as a computing geologist at BP
Exploration in London.
68
ABSTRACT
Legal background
The role of social and demographic factors
Collection
Errors
Improper access
Secondary use
RESEARCH PROPOSITIONS
Research propositions
Comparison with Alabama study
Testing of research propositions
APPENDIX
THE AUTHOR