Authors: Malin Karlsson, Sandra Karlsson, Amanda Malmberg Tutor: Dr. Setayesh Sattari Examiner: Prof. Anders Pehrsson Background: Consumers increasingly purchase products online due to the widespread use of the Internet. The decision for consumers to purchase online is predicted by their purchase intentions, which in turn is affected by their information privacy concerns. There is a lack of research on IPC and purchase intentions in the context of online personalized advertising. Purpose: To extend the understanding of purchase intentions considering information privacy concerns and involvement in the context of online personalized advertising. Methodology: A survey in form of a questionnaire was conducted in order to gather the information necessary to be able to analyse the relationship between IPC and purchase intentions in the context of online personalized advertising. The sample consists of 18-70 year olds from cities in southern Sweden. Conclusion: Conclusions drawn in this thesis is that when applied in the context of online personalized advertising, there is no significant relationship between IPC and purchase intentions. However, involvement is suggested as having a positive relationship to purchase intentions, as well as a positive moderating effect on the relationship between IPC and purchase intention in the context of online personalized advertising. Keywords: Purchase intentions, Information privacy concerns (IPC), Online personalized advertising, Involvement.

The Internet and the growth of Information Technology (IT) and their enhanced capabilities to collect personal information have given rise to many privacy issues. Unauthorized access of personal information may result in identity theft, stalking, harassment, and other invasions of privacy. Information privacy concerns are impediments to broad-scale adoption of the Internet for purchasing decisions. Computer self-efficacy has been shown to be an effective predictor of behavioral intention and a critical determinant of intention to use Information Technology. This study investigated the relationship between an individual's computer self-efficacy and information privacy concerns; and also examined the differences among different age groups and between genders regarding information privacy concerns and their relationships with computer self-efficacy. A paper-based survey was designed to empirically assess computer self-efficacy and information privacy concerns. The survey was developed by combining existing validated scales for computer self-efficacy and information privacy concerns. The target population of this study was the residents of New Jersey, U.S.A. The assessment was done by using the mall-intercept approach in which individuals were asked to fill out the survey. The sample size for this study was 400 students, professionals, and mature adults. The Shapiro-Wilk test was used for testing data normality and the Spearman rank-order test was used for correlation analyses. MANOVA test was used for comparing mean values of computer self-efficacy and information privacy concerns between genders and among age groups. The results showed that the correlation between computer self-efficacy and information privacy concerns was significant and positive; and there were differences between genders and among age groups regarding information privacy concerns and their relationships with computer self-efficacy. This study contributed to the body of knowledge about the relationships among antecedents and consequences of information privacy concerns and computer self-efficacy. The findings of this study can help corporations to improve e-commerce by targeting privacy policy-making efforts to address the explicit areas of consumer privacy concerns. The results of this study can also help IT practitioners to develop privacy protection tools and processes to address specific consumer privacy concerns.

Attacks on computer systems continue to be a problem. The majority of the attacks target home computer users. To help mitigate the attacks some companies provide security awareness training to their employees. However, not all people work for a company that provides security awareness training and typically, home computer users do not have the incentive to take security awareness training on their own. Research in security awareness and security behavior has produced conflicting results. Therefore, it is not clear, how security aware home computer users are or to what extent security awareness affects the security behavior of home computer users. The goal of this study was to determine if there is a relationship between security awareness and users practicing good security behavior. This study adapted its research model from the health belief model (HBM), which accesses a patient’s decision to perform health related activities. The research model included the HBM constructs of perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived threat, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. The research model also contained the security awareness (SA) and concern for information privacy (CFIP) constructs. The model used SA to ascertain the effect of security awareness on a person’s self-efficacy in information security (SEIS), perceived threat, CFIP, and security behavior. The research model included CFIP to ascertain its effect on security behavior. The developed survey measured the participants' security awareness, concern for information privacy, self-efficacy, expectations of security actions, perceived security threats, cues to action, and security behavior. SurveyMonkey administered the survey. SurveyMonkey randomly selected 267 participants from its 30 million-member base. The findings of this study indicate home computer users are security aware. SA does not have a direct effect on a user’s security behavior, perceived threat, or CFIP. However, it does have influence on SEIS. SEIS has a weak effect on expectations. CFIP has an effect on a user’s security behavior after removing perceived threat from the research model. Perceived susceptibility has a direct effect on a user’s security behavior, but perceived severity or perceived threat does not.

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Bakgrund: Det konsumenter oftast inte är medvetna om vid deras Internetanvändning är att de iakttas av företag. Företagen samlar avsiktligt in personlig information och spårar vilka hemsidor och produkter eller tjänster de intresserat sig av genom så kallade webb-spårningssystem. I samma takt som tekniker så som webb-spårningssystem börjat användas har också etisk marknadsföring på Internet blivit ett diskuterat och aktuellt ämne. Etisk marknadsföring på Internet handlar om vad som uppfattas som accepterat beteende av konsumenterna och företag måste ta hänsyn till konsumentens etiska koder. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka konsumenters uppfattningar om webbspårningssystem utifrån etiska koder. Forskningsfråga: Vad är etiskt accepterat användande av webb-spårningssystem från konsumentens perspektiv? Metod: I studien har en kvalitativ forskningsstrategi samt semi-strukturerade intervjuer tillämpats. Slutsats: Slutsatsen i studien är att konsumenters uppfattningar om webb-spårningssystem inte alltid uppfyller konsumentens etiska koder. Konsumenter har generellt sätt en negativ uppfattning om webb-spårningssystem men uppfattningarna skiljer sig beroende på vilken situation som konsumenten påverkas av webb-spårningssystem. Konsumenter har enbart positiva uppfattningar om webb-spårningssystem när tekniken används så att konsumenten gynnas av den.