Consumer Online Privacy Concerns and Responses: A Power - Responsibility Equilibrium Perspective

The authors use the Power-Responsibility Equilibrium (PRE) framework and advance that consumers balance perceived deficits in privacy protection by power holders (businesses and regulators) with defensive actions. In the model, consumer privacy concern is the endogenous mediating entity linking business policy and regulatory perceptions to negative online user responses. The model was empirically tested and confirmed in an experimental setting. In a second study, they added the nature of consumer information involved into a sub-model. Here, the authors investigated the moderating role of information sensitivity and congruency on the business policy-concern relationship across three industry contexts.