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224 Henderson, Snyder and Byrd
computer attitudes provide support for the direct paths that were added to the model
(Agarwal & Prasad, 1999; Harrison & Rainer, 1992).
The final model fit the data quite well (� 2 = 49.71, GFI = 0.95, AGFI = 0.89,
CFI = 0.91, RMSEA = 0.06), as illustrated in Table 2, giving evidence that the model
is supported. Table 3 illustrates the standardized coefficients and t-values for the
paths between the antecedent variables and the PRIVCON and ACTUAL variables.
All the covariances between the antecedent variables were significant (see Table 4).
Tests of Hypotheses
As with prior research, consumers are concerned about the protection of their
personally identifiable information. The mean of the privacy concern measure was
3.76, where 1 = Strongly Disagree and 5 = Strongly Agree. The first four items of
the measure resulted in more concern than the remaining three. The mean for the
first four questions was 4.28, indicating a stronger concern with the protection of
consumer personal information.
A list of the hypotheses and results can be found in Table 5. H1 was not
supported (coefficient = -.056, t = .804). Higher levels of privacy concerns
negatively impact actual e-commerce activity, however the results were not significantly
significant. H2 was supported (coefficient = .145, t = 2.257). Support for H2
indicates that if the consumer feels that the benefits of using the Internet are
sufficient, he or she will provide personal information and continue to participate
in e-commerce activities despite any privacy concerns. There was strong support
for H3 (coefficient = .425, t = 6.597). The results indicate that if a consumer is likely
to buy goods and/or services sight unseen, it does not matter if the medium is the
telephone, the mail, or the Internet.
H4 was supported (coefficient = .424, t =6.195), indicating that as consumers
are more concerned with the vulnerability of their personal information, the greater
they perceive the importance of privacy policies. An additional finding from the
final model shows a significant negative relationship between gender and the
perceived importance of the privacy policy (coefficient = -.224, t = 3.145). The IBM
study found that males place more importance on an organization’s privacy policy
(Louis et al., 1999). Technology knowledge was also found to impact the importance
of privacy policies (coefficient = -.165, t = 2.296). H5 was not supported (coefficient
= -.129, t = 1.804). Actual e-commerce usage does not significantly impact the
perceived importance of an organization’s privacy policy.
The findings indicate that H6 was supported (coefficient = .264, t = 3.589). As
consumers become more concerned with the protection of their personal data, they
become more likely to prefer governmental regulation to industry self-regulation.
Another finding that was not hypothesized was the significant relationship between
the actual e-commerce activity and regulatory preferences (coefficient = .153, t =
2.060). This possibly indicates that if a consumer provides personal information to a
Web site, he or she would prefer stronger laws–as opposed to self-regulation–to
ensure that the personal information is protected.
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