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“To protect my health or to protect my health privacy?” A mixed‐methods investigation of the privacy paradox

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  • Grace Fox

Abstract

This paper examines the role of privacy in the health context by investigating the influence of privacy concerns and perceived benefits on individuals' acceptance of health technologies used by healthcare providers and their own adoption of mobile health technologies. The study adopts a two‐stage sequential mixed‐methods design. The first stage is a quantitative survey of 447 citizens from two countries. The second stage involves 50 qualitative interviews which further untangle the roles of privacy concern and benefits. The integrated findings provide evidence that a privacy paradox exists. While individuals continue to express a high desire for privacy, their consideration of the benefits and privacy concerns prior to adoption is largely skewed toward the benefits, due to a lack of privacy knowledge, emphasis on immediate gratification, overestimation of the benefits, and underestimation of the risks. The study further extends the privacy calculus theory to the health context and acknowledges the factors impacting this comparison of benefits and privacy concerns prior to and postadoption of a new technology. The study provides actionable insights for practice, highlighting the importance of privacy education to foster awareness and control mechanisms to negate the potential negative effects of privacy concern.

Suggested Citation

  • Grace Fox, 2020. "“To protect my health or to protect my health privacy?” A mixed‐methods investigation of the privacy paradox," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(9), pages 1015-1029, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jinfst:v:71:y:2020:i:9:p:1015-1029
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.24369
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gerlach, Jin & Eling, Nicole & Wessels, Nora & Buxmann, Peter, 2019. "Flamingos on a Slackline: Companies’ Challenges of Balancing the Competing Demands of Handling Customer Information and Privacy," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 106582, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    2. Ting Li & Thomas Slee, 2014. "The effects of information privacy concerns on digitizing personal health records," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 65(8), pages 1541-1554, August.
    3. Tamara Dinev & Allen R. McConnell & H. Jeff Smith, 2015. "Research Commentary—Informing Privacy Research Through Information Systems, Psychology, and Behavioral Economics: Thinking Outside the “APCO” Box," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 639-655, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Laura Grassi, 2024. "In a world of Open Finance, are customers willing to share data? An analysis of the data-driven insurance business," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 14(3), pages 727-753, September.
    2. Grace Fox & Lisa van der Werff & Pierangelo Rosati & Patricia Takako Endo & Theo Lynn, 2022. "Examining the determinants of acceptance and use of mobile contact tracing applications in Brazil: An extended privacy calculus perspective," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(7), pages 944-967, July.
    3. Slepchuk, Alec N. & Milne, George R. & Swani, Kunal, 2022. "Overcoming privacy concerns in consumers’ use of health information technologies: A justice framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 782-793.
    4. Michael Zimmer & Jessica Vitak & Philip Wu, 2020. "Editorial introduction: “Information privacy in the digital age”," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(9), pages 997-1001, September.
    5. Richard Henkenjohann, 2021. "Role of Individual Motivations and Privacy Concerns in the Adoption of German Electronic Patient Record Apps—A Mixed-Methods Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-31, September.
    6. Grace Fox & Tabitha L. James, 2021. "Toward an Understanding of the Antecedents to Health Information Privacy Concern: A Mixed Methods Study," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 1537-1562, December.

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