The Effect of Privacy Perception on Social Media on Attitude Towards Social Media Usage

Abstract

Social media applications designed for the purposes such as establishing and maintaining social relationships between people have become an indispensable element of our daily life. Social media users spend a considerable part of their time using these applications. The abundance of personal information shared on social media and the way this information is used by social media companies cause people to have concerns about their privacy. This study aims to measure the effects of people's concerns and perceptions of their privacy on their attitudes towards the use of social media applications. The data required for the research were collected through the online questionnaire prepared with the participation of 409 people. Explanatory factor analyzes and confirmatory factor analyzes were performed with the data obtained to verify the research model and test the hypotheses, and the structural equation model was used to test the research model. According to the findings of the research, it was determined that privacy concerns affected trust, attitude towards using social media, and behavioral intention. It has also been found that the attitude towards using social media affects behavioral intention. In addition, our findings show that, contrary to the studies in the literature, trust does not affect behavioral intention.