Dissertation Title: Privacy Considerations in the Adoption of Location-Based Services
Enabled
by the advances in mobile and positioning technologies, location-based services
(LBS) have afforded consumers with a pervasive flexibility to be constantly
reachable and to access network services while ‘on the move’. However, privacy
concerns associated with the use of LBS may ultimately prevent consumers
from gaining the ‘anytime anywhere’ convenience. Understanding consumers’
privacy concerns toward LBS, therefore, is of increasing importance as mobile
and positioning technologies develop and change with escalating speed.
In this dissertation, a multidisciplinary approach was adopted to explore the process in which mobile users interact with LBS and examine how to alleviate users’ privacy concerns. Drawing upon theories from information systems, information privacy, marketing, social psychology and sociology, this dissertation brings together three partially related yet independent studies which aim to study three approaches of information privacy assurance, i.e., privacy enhancing technologies, industry self-regulation and government legislation. Specifically, this dissertation conducted three experimental studies from three theoretical perspectives that reflect the importance of consumer privacy as an exchange concept, a psychological control phenomenon, and a social contract related issue. From a theoretical perspective, this dissertation extends individual adoption research into the new LBS context by addressing negative outcomes of adopting a new technology that raises a new set of concerns related to individual privacy. From a practical perspective, it highlights several important implications for various players in the LBS industry, including LBS providers, merchants, mobile device manufacturers, privacy advocates and government legislators.