ABSTRACT

This chapter is an attempt to fill a gap in knowledge by linking empirical cultural and privacy studies. It is an integral part of an extensive research project focused on developing a comprehensive model of online privacy concerns and empirically tests it to provide deeper understanding of various antecedents and consequences of online privacy concerns and their interactions. The chapter first presents a brief research background, elaborating national cultural dimensions as developed by Hofstede, and their intuitive interactions with online privacy concerns. The survey methodology and method used to construct indices is described, and a discussion of the results follows. Finally, the chapter examines selected cultural characteristics to be included in the model and suggests a line of future research. Results indicate that there are interrelations worth further exploration, i.e. including some measures of national culture as antecedents of privacy concerns in the online environment.