An empirical investigation of the social web gendered privacy model

Regine Frener

Behaviour and Information Technology, 2024, vol. 43, issue 6, 1254-1267

Abstract: According to Thelwall's ([2011]. “Privacy and Gender in the Social Web.” In Privacy Online. Perspectives on Privacy and Self-Disclosure in the Social Web, edited by S. Trepte and L. Reinecke, 251–266. Springer) social web gendered privacy model, gender differences in offline privacy risks (i.e. experiences of privacy threat, such as aggressive behaviour or betrayal of a secret) and communication qualities transfer to online contexts, and shape gender differences in online privacy perceptions and behaviours. Using representative data (n = 1,043) from four times of measurement over the course of three years, a structural equation model was set up. I found that people with negative offline privacy experiences at T1 express higher online privacy concerns a year later (T2), and take more actions to protect their online privacy at T3. When adequate privacy protection is established, people disclose more personal information privately (e.g. messenger), but not in public (e.g. status updates) at T4. Females reported more negative offline privacy experiences, offline social support, and offline information disclosure. In contrast to the model’s claims, in an online context, men disclose more personal information both privately and publicly. The results provide evidence for the proposed relations of Thelwall's (2011) model: Offline conditions transfer to online contexts and shape social media users’ privacy perception. However, the findings do not support the idea that women are an especially vulnerable group in online settings.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/0144929X.2023.2207669 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:tbitxx:v:43:y:2024:i:6:p:1254-1267

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/tbit20

DOI: 10.1080/0144929X.2023.2207669

Access Statistics for this article

Behaviour and Information Technology is currently edited by Dr Panos P Markopoulos

More articles in Behaviour and Information Technology from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().