Shwadhin Sharma

Personality, attitudes, and intentions

Investigations of computer user behavior become especially important when behaviors like security software adoption affect organizational information resource security, but adoption antecedents remain elusive. Technology adoption studies typically predict behavioral outcomes by investigating the relationship between attitudes and intentions, though intention may not be the best predictor of actual behavior. Personality constructs have recently been found to explain even more variance in behavior, thus providing insights into user behavior. This research incorporates conscientiousness and agreeableness into a conceptual model of security software use. Attitudinal constructs perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were linked with behavioral intent, while the relationship between intent and actual use was found to be moderated by conscientiousness and agreeableness. The results that the moderating effect of personality greatly increases the amount of variance explained in actual use. Display Omitted

Disclosing too much? Situational factors affecting information disclosure in social commerce environment

Abstract The buying and selling of goods and services are no longer limited to a general website or a physical store as social networks, such as Facebook or Pinterest, are heavily focusing on social commerce. Prior studies have analyzed impact of trust and culture on social commerce, design and interface aspects of it, and intention to use social commerce by general people. Our study is informed by the literature on information disclosure intention, and Communication Privacy Management theory and is motivated by the fundamental premise that intention to self-disclose in social commerce is affected by perceived ownership of information, privacy apathy, the risks and benefits of disclosure and fairness of information exchange. We analyzed data collected from 252 samples using the scenario method. The results show that shoppers’ information disclosure intention is driven by the fairness of information exchange, privacy benefits and privacy apathy.

Who to Trust? Applying Trust to Social Commerce

ABSTRACT Organizations have recognized the revenue potential for social commerce (purchasing products via social networks), but such transactions only comprise a small percentage of revenue. Companies have yet to determine the factors that contribute to social commerce failure. In social networking, trust is established when two parties have a history of trustworthy interactions. Acknowledging that social commerce represents a fundamentally different purchasing environment than typical business transactions, we examine the role of trust in determining consumers’ decisions to engage in social commerce for their purchases. We apply trust transfer theory to the social commerce context to assess whether trust in known entities can be transferred to business transactions facilitated through a social network with unknown parties. Using a field survey, we found that trust in the Internet and trust in firms significantly influence consumers’ trust and ultimately their intention to engage in social commerce. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Information Privacy on Online Social Networks: Illusion-in-Progress in the Age of Big Data?

In the age of big data where vast amounts of data are collected, stored, and analyzed from all possible sources, the growth of social media and the culture of sharing personal information have created privacy and security related issues. Drawing on the prospect theory and rational apathy theory, we present a research model to investigate why people disclose personal information on Online Social Networks. This paper analyzes the impact of situational factors such as information control, ownership of personal information, and apathy towards privacy concern of users on Online Social Network. We describe the proposed research design for collecting our data and analysis using structural equation modeling to analyze the data. The findings and conclusions will be presented after the data is analyzed. This work contributes to the network analytics by developing new constructs using the Prospect Theory and the Rational Apathy theory from the fields of behavioral economics and social psychology respectively.

Competitiveness on Social Networking Sites and Its Implications on Individuals’ Security and Privacy Concerns

Privacy and security of personal information in online settings continues to be a relevant and alarming issue for individuals who participate in social networking sites (SNS). A potential contributing factor of one’s propensity to share information online could be level of competitiveness embedded in one’s personality. Those who are more likely to socially engage in competitive activities may also be prone to conducting similar comparisons among peers in computer-mediated situations, such as SNS. In an effort to prove one’s superiority in an online setting, one may unknowingly reveal important personal information. In this paper, we present a research model intended to help predict SNS usage based on users’ innate propensity to be competitive with other SNS users, whether through the pure enjoyment of engaging in competition or via the desire to create conflict. Analysis of the model and potential implications are discussed further.