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218 Henderson, Snyder and Byrd
and systems has been one of the most challenging issues in information systems (IS)
research (Swanson, 1988). Previous IS research has used intention models from
social psychology as the basis for research on the determinants of user behavior
(Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989; Swanson, 1982).
In the research model proposed for this study we did not use the behavioral
intention, but we used the individuals’ perceptions of their actual e-commerce
activity. The research model posits that privacy concerns (attitude) have a direct
impact on a consumer’s actual e-commerce activities. Previous research indicates
that individuals may take a variety of different actions based on their levels of
concern, such as having no intention to provide personal information (Culnan, 1993;
Stone & Stone, 1990). Therefore, we hypothesized:
H1: Higher levels of privacy concerns will result in lower levels of actual ecommerce
activity.
The research model in Figure 1 also captures the effect of perceived usefulness
(PERUSE) on actual e-commerce activity. The following was hypothesized:
H2: Higher levels of perceived usefulness result in higher levels of actual ecommerce
activity.
Culnan (1993) included a variable to measure whether the respondents had
shopped by mail or phone during the previous year. This study also used a variable
that gauges a consumer’s proclivity to purchase merchandise (PH) sight unseen.
Thus the following hypothesis was proposed:
H3: The more likely a consumer is to purchase merchandise or services via mail,
telephone or over the Internet during the past year, the higher the level of actual
e-commerce use.
IMPORTANCE OF PRIVACY POLICY
Several studies have looked at the privacy policies of Web sites (Culnan,
1999a, 1999b; FTC, 1998, 1999). In addition, the FTC issued its report, “Privacy
Online: Fair Information Practices in the Electronic Marketplace,” as a result of the
previous studies (FTC, 2000). Neither study looked at how consumers feel about
privacy policies. However, the IBM Multi-National Privacy Survey did examine the
relationship between consumers and privacy policies (Louis et al., 1999). This study
also examined the relationship between privacy concerns and the importance of
privacy policies (IMPPP). Thus, the following hypothesis was proposed:
H4: The higher the level of privacy concern, the higher the perceived importance
of privacy policies.
None of the previous studies have examined the impact of e-commerce usage
on the perceived importance of privacy policies (IMPPP). The more PII consumers
provide over the Internet, the more vulnerable their data becomes. Thus, the
following was hypothesized:
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