Development and validation of a scale measuring the impact of information technologies on the privacy perceptions of users

Users are becoming "privacy assertive" as advances in technology cultivate new sensibilities and vulnerabilities about invasions of personal privacy. They ask to be removed from marketing databases, decline to register at e-commerce sites, and avoid web sites with dubious privacy practices. While user concerns about privacy (especially information privacy) are well documented in the literature, research on the sources of these concerns is limited. In particular, there is a dearth of IS research about the privacy-related characteristics of information technologies that influence user resistance to their adoption. As has been noted, users are less likely to adopt and use technologies when unfavorable impressions are formed, especially during the evaluation and trial phases of the adoption process. This paper describes the development and validation of the Privacy Invasiveness Perception Scale (PIPS) which is designed to measure the impact of information technology characteristics on the privacy perceptions of users. The development and validation process consists of four phases: 1) developing a conceptual model that specifies the item content domain and allows for the generation of sample items, 2) collecting preliminary scale data to assess reliability, 3) collecting additional scale data to assess the fit of the conceptual model, and 4) determining the efficacy of the model. The PIPS will enable organizations to choose more adoptable information technologies that minimize user resistance based on individual privacy concerns.