Elsevier

Information & Management

Volume 55, Issue 8, December 2018, Pages 1005-1023
Information & Management

How to regulate individuals’ privacy boundaries on social network sites: A cross-cultural comparison

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2018.05.006Get rights and content

Abstract

Individuals presently interact with their diverse social circles on social networking sites and may find it challenging to maintain their privacy while deriving pleasure through self-disclosure. Drawing upon the communication privacy management theory, our study examines how boundary coordination and boundary turbulence can influence individuals’ self-disclosure decisions. Further, our study examines how the effects of boundary coordination and boundary turbulence differ across cultures. Our hypotheses are tested with survey data collected from the United States and China. The results strongly support our hypotheses and show interesting cultural differences. The implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Introduction

Presently, individuals often interact with their diverse social circles (i.e., relatives, schoolmates, teachers, colleagues, friends, online friends, etc.) on social networking sites (SNSs). In such a context, they may find meeting the inconsistent expectations of their diverse social circles quite challenging, if not impossible [1]. As a result, individuals’ privacy boundaries become blurred, and they are vulnerable to potential privacy threats (e.g., misuse of disclosed information) [2]. For example, pictures may be taken when individuals have parties and drink alcohol with their friends. The friends may expect to see the pictures posted on Facebook to show their friendship. However, the individuals may be in sports teams and worry that their coaches can also view the pictures [1].

Indeed, individuals presently are increasingly integrating the use of SNSs into their lives. A recent report shows that in 2016, Internet users spent 118 min on average per day using SNSs [3]. On SNSs such as Facebook, Twitter, and WeChat (a Chinese mobile SNS), individuals maintain their existing social relationships and develop new relationships by disclosing their personal information [4], [5]. They can update their status, upload their pictures, and comment on information disclosed by others. From the perspective of the SNSs, supporting individuals’ information disclosure is vital because their market values depend heavily on the social interactions among their users [6]. However, while individuals enjoy the pleasure and gratification derived from interacting with their contacts on SNSs, their privacy is endangered [7]. In particular, Facebook users now have approximately 228 contacts on average [8]. On WeChat, the average number of contacts is around 128 per user [102]. As the number of contacts on SNSs increases, individuals realize that they need to interact with their diverse social circles. However, as illustrated above, individuals may have inconsistent expectations and experience conflicts from these social circles. To avoid potential conflicts, individuals may refuse to upload pictures or even break certain social connections, which will ultimately hurt the value of the SNS. Therefore, it is important for SNSs to understand how to protect individuals’ privacy and support their self-disclosure in such scenarios.

Previous literature has examined privacy in various contexts [9], [10], [11], and recent literature has begun to pay more attention to privacy on SNSs. Our review of the previous literature (Table A1 in Appendix A) shows that most studies focus on how individuals manage their privacy and make self-disclosure decisions themselves. However, on SNSs, once information is disclosed, it becomes accessible to both senders (i.e., those who disclose the information) and receivers (i.e., others on SNSs). Receivers here can come from individuals’ diverse social circles. Both sides are responsible for controlling the disclosed information, and the fact that these diverse social circles co-exist on SNSs has important implications for individuals’ self-disclosure. However, few studies have examined self-disclosure from a collective privacy management perceptive and assessed the influence of individuals’ various social circles. Such studies are highly needed because collective privacy management differs from individual privacy management and involves interpersonal interactions and perception regarding how disclosed information will be co-managed [12]. Further, as discussed above, conflicts that individuals experience while interacting with diverse social circles can impede their social connections and hurt the value of SNSs. Therefore, examining self-disclosure from a collective privacy management perspective is vital because it can provide better understanding of how to support individuals’ social connections, and also, it can provide information about SNS providers’ operational strategies. One exception is De Wolf et al. [13], who examined both individual and group privacy management. However, their study focuses on members of a youth organization on Facebook where only one social circle (i.e., other members of the youth organization) is involved in social interaction.1

Therefore, to better understand individuals’ information disclosure and support their social interactions on SNSs, our first objective is to examine how SNS users form their privacy boundaries collectively with others and make their information disclosure decisions while interacting with different social circles on SNSs. In other words, we focus on how individuals’ different social circles affect their self-disclosure on SNSs, which is not well examined in the previous literature. Our study draws upon Petronio’s [33] communication privacy management (CPM) theory to understand how individuals form their privacy boundaries and make self-disclosure decisions. In other words, our study does not focus on individuals’ privacy boundaries per se but on how their privacy boundaries are formed while interacting with different social circles on SNSs. Previous literature has applied the CPM theory to understand how institutional privacy assurances can reduce individuals’ privacy concerns [14]. Our study extends the previous literature by applying the CPM theory in the context of SNSs and proposing corresponding mechanisms for boundary coordination and turbulence.

Further, SNS providers presently often operate in different countries and deal with users from diverse cultural backgrounds, and it is necessary to understand how users form their privacy boundaries across culture. Culture is thus an important factor influencing SNS users’ self-disclosure decisions [15], [16]. However, our review (Table A2 in Appendix A) shows that culture has not been well examined in the previous cross-cultural privacy literature, even though it is recognized in the CPM theory (more details in “Literature Review and Theory Foundation” section). Many studies treat culture as given and assume that certain cultural dimensions are different when comparing two countries. Some other studies collect certain cultural dimensions and use them as independent variables. These studies can be helpful to understand how cultural dimensions can influence individuals’ privacy concerns but cannot help assess how certain relationships are different under different cultural dimensions. On the other hand, few studies try to understand individuals’ privacy under different espoused cultural dimensions.

To further understand the effect of culture on individuals’ privacy and self-disclosure decisions, we draw upon the CPM theory and Hofstede’s national cultural dimensions [17]. Thus, our second objective is to examine the moderating role of culture in individuals’ forming their privacy boundaries on SNSs while interacting with different social circles on SNSs. The United States (US) and China are selected as exemplars of distinct cultural differences, and we collect different cultural dimensions from Hofstede [17]. By comparing SNS users in the US and China as well as in subsamples of different espoused cultural dimensions, our study can clarify how individuals from different cultures perceive privacy and form their privacy boundaries.

To summarize, our study examines how SNS users form their privacy boundaries and make self-disclosure decisions while interacting with different social circles on SNSs, as well as the moderating effect of culture on the process of privacy boundary formation. Our study focuses on individuals’ disclosing their personal information rather than all types of information sharing (e.g., news sharing) on SNSs. Our study makes two important contributions. First, our study contributes to the privacy literature by clarifying how individuals make their privacy decisions while interacting with various social circles on SNSs, an issue that has not been well examined in the literature. Our study also extends the previous literature applying the CPM theory by clarifying the mechanisms of boundary coordination and turbulence in the context of SNSs. The results of our study can provide information about SNS providers’ operational strategies and support users’ social interactions on SNSs. Second, our study clarifies the role of culture in the process of self-disclosure. The findings can provide valuable insights for SNS providers regarding how to protect individuals’ privacy across different cultures.

The rest of our paper is organized as follows. We first briefly review the previous literature and discuss our research objectives to fill the gaps in the literature. Next, we introduce our theoretical background and discuss how culture can be relevant to understanding privacy. We then present our research model and develop our hypotheses. Thereafter, research methodology is presented, and the results of the data analysis are reported. Finally, our paper concludes with implications for theory and practice, the limitations of our study, and opportunities for future studies.

Section snippets

Privacy literature: a brief review

As SNSs become part of individuals’ lives, practitioners are interested in how to support individuals’ information disclosure on SNSs. Individuals’ information disclosure is critical because it can not only support their social interactions with other users but also greatly influence market values of SNSs [6]. Previous privacy and self-disclosure literature in the context of SNSs has examined different factors influencing individuals’ information disclosure. Our review (Table A1 in Appendix A)

Hypotheses development

In this section, we develop our hypotheses on the basis of the CPM theory and the previous literature on privacy. Fig. 1 depicts the research model. Here, culture moderates the relationship between boundary coordination/turbulence and cost–benefit assessment. In other words, culture has a moderating effect on how individuals form their privacy boundary rules. In the sections below, we define the constructs in our model and describe each hypothesis in more detail.

Data collection procedures and participants

Survey companies were employed to recruit SNS users from the US and China. Survey companies maintain various channels to recruit a variety of samples. Several approaches such as quality assurance questions were used to detect fraudulent or duplicate answers. In total, we received 381 valid responses from the US and 450 valid responses from China.5

Discussion

Our study examines how individuals make their information disclosure decisions as well as how individuals’ boundary rule formation is influenced by boundary coordination and turbulence in the context of SNSs. Our model is tested with American and Chinese SNS users, and the results strongly support our model. Specifically, our results show that social rewards are positively related to the intention to self-disclose, whereas privacy risk and disposition to value privacy are negatively related to

Conclusion

As individuals interact with more types of social circles on SNSs, they may feel that it is challenging to maintain their privacy. This study has developed a research model to examine how individuals make self-disclosure decisions and how SNSs can protect their privacy. The data, collected from the US and China, strongly support our research model regarding the effect of boundary coordination and turbulence. Further, there are interesting cultural differences with regard to individuals’

Funding

This work is supported by the grant of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 71771040; 71301021) and internal grant from School of Engineering and Information Technology, Murdoch University.

Zilong Liu is an associate professor in Department of Information Management, School of Management Science and Engineering, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, China. He received his Ph.D. in Information Systems from Dongbei University of Finance and Economics. His research interests include information privacy and social media. He has published several studies in academic journals as well as international journals (e.g. Information & Management) and conferences on those topics.

References (99)

  • G. Cecere et al.

    Perceived Internet privacy concerns on social networks in Europe

    Technol. Forecasting Soc. Change

    (2015)
  • I. Pentina et al.

    Exploring privacy paradox in information-sensitive mobile app adoption: a cross-cultural comparison

    Comput. Human Behav.

    (2016)
  • Y. Li et al.

    Cross-Cultural privacy prediction

    Proc. Privacy Enhanc. Technol.

    (2017)
  • A. Besmer et al.

    Moving beyond untagging: photo privacy in a tagged world

  • P.B. Brandtzæg et al.

    Too many facebook friends? content sharing and sociability versus the need for privacy in social network sites

    Int. Jo. Hum.–Compuy. Interact.

    (2010)
  • Statista. com

    Daily Time Spent on Social Networking by Internet Users Worldwide from 2012 to 2016 (in Minutes)

    (2016)
  • D.M. Boyd et al.

    Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship

    J. Comput.-Med. Commun.

    (2008)
  • X. Wang et al.

    Users’ satisfaction with social network sites: a self-determination perspective

    J. Comput. Inf. Syst.

    (2015)
  • N. Smith

    How Much Is a Facebook Friend Worth? $174.17

    (2013)
  • N. Zhang et al.

    Privacy in online social networks

    Proceedings of International Conference on Information Systems

    (2011)
  • S. Mazin

    Do You Have Too Many Facebook Friends?

    (2014)
  • F. Bélanger et al.

    Privacy in the digital age: a review of information privacy research in information systems

    MIS Q.

    (2011)
  • H.J. Smith et al.

    Information privacy research: an interdisciplinary review

    MIS Q.

    (2011)
  • Heng. Xu

    Reframing privacy 2.0 in online social networks

    J. Constitutional Law

    (2012)
  • H. Xu et al.

    Information privacy concerns: linking individual perceptions with institutional privacy assurance

    J. Assoc. Inf. Syst.

    (2011)
  • R. Cullen

    Culture, identity and information privacy in the age of digital government

    Online Inf. Rev.

    (2009)
  • C.L. Miltgen et al.

    Cultural and generational influences on privacy concerns: a qualitative study in seven European countries

    Eur. J. Inf. Syst.

    (2014)
  • G. Hofstede

    Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and Organization Across Nations

    (2001)
  • T.L. James et al.

    Exposing others’ information on online social networks (OSNs): perceived shared risk, its determinants, and its influence on OSN privacy control use

    Inf. Manag.

    (2018)
  • H. Shih et al.

    Constraint-based and dedication-based mechanisms for encouraging online self-disclosure: is personalization the only thing that matters?

    Eur. J. Inf. Syst.

    (2017)
  • H. Krasnova et al.

    Online social networks: why we disclose

    J. Inf.Technol.

    (2010)
  • Z. Liu et al.

    The effect of role conflict on self-disclosure in social network sites: an integrated perspective of boundary regulation and dual process model

    Inf. Syst. J.

    (2018)
  • Z. Liu et al.

    How digital natives make their self-Disclosure decisions: a cross-cultural comparison

    Inf. Technol. People

    (2018)
  • S. Trepte et al.

    A cross-cultural perspective on the privacy calculus

    Social Media + Soc.

    (2017)
  • M. Srite et al.

    The role of espoused national cultural values in technology acceptance

    MIS Q.

    (2006)
  • T. Dinev et al.

    Internet privacy concerns and social awareness as determinants of intention to transact

    Int. J. Electron. Commerce

    (2005)
  • R.K. Chellappa et al.

    Personalization versus privacy: an empirical examination of the online consumer's dilemma

    Inf. Technol. Manage.

    (2005)
  • V.J. Derlega et al.

    Privacy and self-disclosure in social relationship

    J. Soc. Issues

    (1977)
  • I. Altman

    The Environment and Social Behavior: Privacy, Personal Space, Territory, Crowding

    (1975)
  • L.R. Wheeless et al.

    Conceptualization and measurement of reported self-disclosure

    Huma. Commun. Res.

    (1976)
  • S.S. Petronio

    Boundaries of privacy: Dialectics of disclosure

    (2002)
  • Z. Jiang et al.

    Privacy concerns and privacy-protective behavior in synchronous online social interactions

    Inf. Syst. Res.

    (2013)
  • J.D. Hunter

    Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America

    (1991)
  • C. Nippert-Eng

    Calendars and keys: the classification of home and work

    Sociol. Forum

    (1996)
  • R.P. Bostrom

    Role conflict and ambiguity: critical variables in the user-designer relationship

    Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Computer Personnel Research Conference

    (1981)
  • P. Carpenter et al.

    Working Memory Constraints in Comprehension: Evidence from Individual Differences, Aphasia, and Aging

    (1994)
  • R.L. Kahn et al.

    Organizational Stress: Studies in Role Conflict and Ambiguity

    (1964)
  • T. Guimaraes et al.

    Determinants of turnover intentions: comparing IC and IS personnel

    Inf. Syst. Res.

    (1992)
  • T. Dinev et al.

    Privacy concerns and privacy-protective behavior in synchronous online social interactions

    Inf. Syst. Res.

    (2006)
  • Cited by (61)

    • From knowledge seeking to knowledge contribution: A social capital perspective on knowledge sharing behaviors in online Q&A communities

      2022, Technological Forecasting and Social Change
      Citation Excerpt :

      Relational capital plays an important role in knowledge sharing in online virtual communities (Chiu et al., 2006). For instance, trust provides online users with a guarantee of expected returns in the future (Liu and Wang, 2018) that high-quality information can be provided (Cheng et al., 2019). Furthermore, interpersonal trust is important in reducing online users' perceived risk and uncertainty in social interactions to build credible social relations (Dong et al., 2017), which will encourage users to take risks, and enhance the intention to participate in knowledge contribution (Xiong et al., 2018).

    • Calculus interdependency, personality contingency, and causal asymmetry: Toward a configurational privacy calculus model of information disclosure

      2021, Information and Management
      Citation Excerpt :

      Therefore, to precisely understand the privacy calculus process calls for considering the individual differences and viewing it from a personality-contingency perspective. Finally, prior studies on information disclosure in SNS assume that users disclose or do not disclose personal information following the same logic [e.g., 1, 15, 16]. In particular, if the increase of a factor leads to the increase of the dependent variable, the decrease of the factor will lead to the decrease of the dependent variable too.

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    Zilong Liu is an associate professor in Department of Information Management, School of Management Science and Engineering, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, China. He received his Ph.D. in Information Systems from Dongbei University of Finance and Economics. His research interests include information privacy and social media. He has published several studies in academic journals as well as international journals (e.g. Information & Management) and conferences on those topics.

    Xuequn (Alex) Wang is a Lecturer in Murdoch University. He received his Ph.D. in Information Systems from Washington State University. His research interests include social media, online communities, knowledge management, and human-computer interaction. His research has appeared in Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, Behaviour & Information Technology, Journal of Computer Information Systems, and Journal of Knowledge Management.

    View full text