A dimensionalised privacy behaviour model: an empirical test of a conceptual proposition

Privacy research struggles with modelling how individuals value and enact privacy, and faces challenges in explaining apparent contradictions such as the privacy paradox and manifestations of privacy-related disempowerment. Such uncertainties arise from the use of unidimensional privacy constructs or through assumptions that privacy-related decisions are rational or intentional. Addressing these lacunae, we present and empirically test the Dimensionalised Privacy Behaviour (DPB) model, which simultaneously examines the relationships between privacy concerns and privacy-protecting behaviours (PPB) along privacy’s horizontal and vertical orientations, and introduces online privacy literacy and privacy self-efficacy as additional explanatory mechanisms in PPB modelling. Using data from a representative sample of 618 US social media users, we demonstrate that the privacy concerns/privacy behaviours dynamic is better understood along its vertically–and horizontally-oriented dimensions, and that each dimension interacts differently with explanatory elements. Furthermore, while affirming the established logic between privacy concerns and PPB, these results highlight privacy self-efficacy as a significant factor for explaining PPB, with differing effects in each dimension.