In this study, we explore the effectiveness of persuasive messages endorsing the adoption of a privacy protection technology (IoT Inspector) tailored to individuals’ regulatory focus (promotion or prevention). We explore if and how regulatory fit (i.e., tuning the goal-pursuit mechanism to individuals’ internal regulatory focus) can increase persuasion and adoption. We conducted a between-subject experiment (N = 236) presenting participants with the IoT Inspector in gain ("Privacy Enhancing Technology"—PET) or loss ("Privacy Preserving Technology"—PPT) framing. Results show that the effect of regulatory fit on adoption is mediated by trust and privacy calculus processes: prevention-focused users who read the PPT message trust the tool more. Furthermore, privacy calculus favors using the tool when promotion-focused individuals read the PET message. We discuss the contribution of understanding the cognitive mechanisms behind regulatory fit in privacy decision-making to support privacy protection.

This study proposes a novel coping model of privacy that extends prior privacy work in two important ways: first, the reconceptualization of privacy coping reflecting both problem- and emotion-focused strategies, and second, the incorporation of discrete emotions as a driver of privacy coping. Results from online survey data ( N = 605) show that Facebook users’ adaptation to privacy risks consists of multifaceted coping strategies that are problem-focused, emotion-focused, and communication-focused. These coping strategies have selective relationships with theoretical antecedents such as cognitive appraisals (i.e., threat appraisals and coping appraisals) and negative emotions (i.e., anger, frustration, regret, and anxiety/fear). Discrete emotions play a crucial functional role in determining users’ coping responses to privacy risks by selectively activating (or deactivating) emotionally congruent (or incongruent) coping strategies. Specifically, approach-associated emotions such as frustration and regret lead to problem-focused privacy coping strategies, whereas avoidance-associated emotions such as anxiety and fear lead to emotion-focused strategies. We also find a new type of privacy coping strategy: communication-focused coping strategies that are affected by regret and anxiety/fear.

If one wants to study privacy from an intercultural perspective, one must first validate whether there are any cultural variations in the concept of “privacy” itself. This study systematically examines cultural differences in collective privacy management strategies, and highlights methodological precautions that must be taken in quantitative intercultural privacy research. Using survey data of 498 Facebook users from the US, Singapore, and South Korea, we test the validity and cultural invariance of the measurement model and predictive model associated with collective privacy management. The results show that the measurement model is only partially culturally invariant, indicating that social media users in different countries interpret the same instruments in different ways. Also, cross-national comparisons of the structural model show that causal pathways from collective privacy management strategies to privacy-related outcomes vary significantly across countries. The findings suggest significant cultural variations in privacy management practices, both with regard to the conceptualization of its theoretical constructs, and with respect to causal pathways.

Users of social network services (SNSs) have to cope with a new set of privacy challenges because personal information on an SNS is often co-owned and co-managed by various distributed social ties. Using a multi-methods and multinational approach, we investigated Facebook users' privacy behavior by focusing on how they co-manage private information. Our findings from focus-group interviews (n = 28) and online surveys (n = 299) suggest that Facebook users primarily apply four different practices of privacy management: collaborative strategies, corrective strategies, preventive strategies, and information control. The four dimensions of privacy management display selective relationships with theoretical antecedents (e.g., self-efficacy, collective-efficacy, attitudes, privacy concern), indicating that each behavior is motivated by a different combination of conditions. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Conflict is an important group process, and more so in self-organizing teams with fluid boundaries and high possibility for turnover. We empirically investigate different types of conflict in Free and Open Source Software development teams, their antecedents and impact on developers&' sustained participation. Following a survey of 222 FOSS developers, we find conflict to have an overall negative effect on developer retention. Furthermore, different types of conflict have varying impact on outcomes. In particular, only normative conflict levels negatively impact intention to remain in a FOSS project. Both normative and process conflict negatively affect perceptions of team performance, while the co-occurrence of task and process conflict exacerbate negative effects on outcomes. Though we find structural factors like task interdependence and geographical distribution increase overall conflict levels in FOSS teams, participatory decision-making and a transformational leadership style have an ameliorating effect. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Many computer users today value personalization but perceive it in conflict with their desire for privacy. They therefore tend not to disclose data that would be useful for personalization. We investigate how characteristics of the personalization provider influence users' attitudes towards personalization and their resulting disclosure behavior. We propose an integrative model that links these characteristics via privacy attitudes to actual disclosure behavior. Using the E laboration L ikelihood M odel, we discuss in what way the influence of the manipulated provider characteristics is different for users engaging in different levels of elaboration (represented by the user characteristics of privacy concerns and self‐efficacy). We find particularly that (a) reputation management is effective when users predominantly use the peripheral route (i.e., a low level of elaboration), but much less so when they predominantly use the central route (i.e., a high level of elaboration); (b) client‐side personalization has a positive impact when users use either route; and (c) personalization in the cloud does not work well in either route. Managers and designers can use our results to instill more favorable privacy attitudes and increase disclosure, using different techniques that depend on each user's levels of privacy concerns and privacy self‐efficacy.

As the nature of virtual work changes, so must our understanding of important processes such as conflict. The present study examines conflict in ongoing virtual teams by situating itself in the context of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) development. A series of semi-structured interviews with diverse representatives of the FOSS community highlight differences in the way conflict occurs. Specifically, a transformation of conflict types is observed together with a form of conflict previously unidentified in work on virtual teams. Findings suggest that the changing structure of ongoing virtual teams has important consequences for team processes like conflict.

While numerous studies have identified various cognitive and social factors affecting the adoption of new technologies and innovations, the role of individual differences has not yet received full research attention. In this study, we focused on the need for cognition (NFC; Cacioppo, J.T. and Petty, R.E., 1982. The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 116–131) and examined the implications of this personality variable relative to smartphone use. The results based on the survey data (N=411) provided support for our hypotheses that NFC is an important motivational personality construct that distinguishes between adopters and non-adopters of smartphones. We also found that NFC moderates the linkages between instrumental beliefs, social influence factors, and behavioural intentions (BI). Specifically, perceived usefulness had a stronger effect on BI for high-NFC people, whereas perceived ease of use and subjective norms had stronger effects for low-NFC people. The findings reveal possible important variations in technology adoption and the role of NFC in governing these alternative decision-making processes. Implications for theory, product design, as well as for managers are discussed.

Abstract This study explores how and why people participate in collaborative knowledge‐building practices in the context of Wikipedia. Based on a survey of 223 Wikipedians, this study examines the relationship between motivations, internal cognitive beliefs, social‐relational factors, and knowledge‐sharing intentions. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis reveal that attitudes, knowledge self‐efficacy, and a basic norm of generalized reciprocity have significant and direct relationships with knowledge‐sharing intentions. Altruism (an intrinsic motivator) is positively related to attitudes toward knowledge sharing, whereas reputation (an extrinsic motivator) is not a significant predictor of attitude. The study also reveals that a social‐relational factor, namely, a sense of belonging, is related to knowledge‐sharing intentions indirectly through different motivational and social factors such as altruism, subjective norms, knowledge self‐efficacy, and generalized reciprocity. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

This study examines the formation and change of collaborative learning social networks in a distributed learning community. A social network perspective is employed to understand how collaborative networks evolved over time when 31 distributed learners collaborated on a design project using a computer-mediated communication system during two semesters. Special attention was paid to how pre-existing friendship networks influenced the formation of macro-level collaborative learning networks and individual level social capital. We discovered that pre-existing friendship networks significantly influenced the formation of collaborative learning networks, but the effect was dependent on the developmental phase of community. Also, pre-existing networks generally acted as a social liability that constrained learners' ability to enhance their social networks and build social capital when they participated in a new learning environment. The results suggest that, in order to fully understand how to build effective collaborative learning and work environments, participants' social network structures need to be considered.