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

Grace Fox

Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, 2020, vol. 71, issue 9, 1015-1029

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.

Date: 2020
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