Elsevier

Computers in Human Behavior

Volume 80, March 2018, Pages 379-389
Computers in Human Behavior

Full length article
Self-concepts in cyber censorship awareness and privacy risk perceptions: What do cyber asylum-seekers have?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.11.028Get rights and content

Highlights

  • This study explored the role of cyber asylum-seekers’ self-concepts in cyberspace.

  • This study explores the effects of privacy risk on cyber asylum.

  • The study investigated the behavioral intention to seek cyber asylum.

  • The self-concepts played an important role in making users aware of cyber censorship.

  • The cyber censorship awareness affected privacy risk perceptions and privacy concerns.

Abstract

The aim of this research was to investigate the role cyber asylum-seekers’ self-concepts play in cyber censorship awareness as well as the effects of privacy risk perceptions and privacy concerns on the behavioral intention to seek cyber asylum. The study examined how the self-concepts of cyberspace users affected their awareness of cyber censorship (where a self-concept comprises six elements—self-disclosure, self-efficacy, self-assertion, social presence, self-esteem, and self-identity). Based on consumer panel data from a survey of cyberspace surfers (n = 1500), the results revealed that online media users’ self-concepts played an important role in making them aware of cyber censorship and explained how cyber censorship awareness affected privacy risk perceptions and privacy concerns. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings and limitations of the study as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Introduction

Following the Candlelight demonstrations in Korean cyberspace of 2008, cyber censorship and cyber asylum have become prominent social issues. Participation by cyber communities in online or offline demonstrations was a novel type of cyber community civic movement motivated by complex interactions between the formation of issue-related groups by community members, the cyber community's tradition of trusting and sharing information, and current democratic ways of learning (Sangarasivam, 2013, Shin, 2010, Song, 2012). Cyber asylum, a phenomenon in which Internet users move from one online space to another one to avoid cyber censorship, has taken place since the cyber inspection of Daum Kakao (a Korean online messenger service) in 2014 because of continued restrictions on the Internet imposed by cyber slander law, copyright law, packet wiretapping of messengers, and search and seizure of e-mails by government authorities. Rising concerns regarding such issues are leading to social discussions about building a safer cyber world. The present state of the Korean Internet, where fear and inconvenience coexist, gives rise not only to cyber asylum-seeking by users but also to economic damage to Internet companies.

The ever-expanding world of cyberspace has been studied largely with substantial statistical data, but the principles underlying the abovementioned cyber phenomena and their associations with psychological variables have drawn little attention in the relevant literature (Baym & Ledbetter, 2009). Even existing studies have failed to report consistent findings regarding the effects of the traits of individual cyberspace users on society or cyberspace culture. We lack an integrated model explaining the phenomena that result from this growth in online behavior (Ledbetter et al., 2011, Posey et al., 2010).

Thus, the self-concepts of cyberspace users (who use, e.g., the Internet, SNSs, etc.) were identified and classified for the purposes of this study, and relationships between each of the components of the self-concept construct with cyber censorship awareness, privacy concerns, privacy risk perceptions, and the behavioral intention to seek cyber asylum were examined.

Section snippets

Cyber censorship, privacy, and cyber asylum

The term cyberspace has often been used interchangeably with Internet in reference to Internet culture, Internet applications, and so forth (Jordan, 2000, Puathasnanon, 1998, Sangarasivam, 2013). The advent of the Internet and the supply of wired/wireless networks have created a virtual space known as cyberspace. In cyberspace people are considered more equal and act more laterally than in the real world because the online community consists of fluid identities of individuals and rejection of

The relationship between self-concepts and cyber censorship

The foregoing review of the literature and theoretical constructs pertaining to self-concept and cyberspace users provides the framework for this study. The study explores how the elements of self-concepts affect cyber censorship and privacy issues. And the purpose of the study is to investigate how censorship and privacy concerns affect the behavioral intention to seek cyber asylum. On this logical basis, in this study self-concept was applied in terms of space on the Internet, that is,

The relationship between cyber censorship and privacy risk perceptions and privacy concerns

Cyber censorship involves an act undertaken by a country (usually its government), a firm, a private organization, or the like, without the approval of users, to place a wiretap, collect personal information, or restrict Internet access. In other words, censorship is used to inhibit one's ideas or opinions from becoming known by screening and sorting them before they are announced to the public. Motahari et al. (2007) suggested seven factors regarding personal information that are concerned

The relationship between privacy risk perceptions and privacy concerns and the intention to seek cyber asylum

The behavioral intention to seek cyber asylum is grounded in fundamental psychological theories. The protection motivation theory (Rogers, 1975) is helpful in explaining a mediated process of behavioral change that one undertakes when exposed to a certain risk to protect oneself from the threat by raising intrinsic protection motivations. The expectancy–value theory and the cognitive processing theory explain a process through which a behavioral change undertaken by an individual to protect

Theoretical model

To guide the analysis of the data collected for this study, the author devised the following theoretical model to illustrate the relationships between the elements of cyber space users’ self-concepts and cyber censorship, privacy risk perceptions, privacy concerns, and cyber asylum-seeking behavior (Fig. 1).

Sampling and data collection

The sample for this study was identified through convenience samples of cyberspace users from active panel members (n = 1500). They were then contacted by e-mail and phone and were asked to participate. Willing participants were then directed to the online survey website. Data collection started on March 15, 2016 and ended on April 15, 2016. To increase the volume of statistical evidence and enhance the credibility of the study, actual data were collected from each respondent to identify those

Exogenous variables

The research used previously developed scales, modified when necessary, to measure the variables. The roles of the components of self-concepts were measured as self-disclosure, self-efficacy, self-assertion, social presence, self-esteem, and self-identity. Six items for self-disclosure (Pedersen & Higbee, 1968), three items for self-efficacy, four items for self-assertion, three items for social presence, three items for self-esteem—including two reverse items (Jin, 2015)—and six items for

Descriptive analysis

The eventual sample consisted of 761 men and 739 women for 1500 questionnaires. One hundred eighty-eight subjects were 10–19 years of age, 437 were 20–29 years of age, 414 were 30–39 years of age, and 461 were over 40 years of age. Two hundred thirty-four were college students (15.6%), and 1061 of the respondents had an educational background that included at least some college-level instruction (70.7%). On average, monthly income ranged from 2000 to 5000 dollars (see Table 3).

Assessment of measurement model

To confirm or

Conclusions and discussion

The results of this study can be explained by reference to causal relationships between self-concepts as independent variables, mediating variables, and dependent variables. First, awareness of cyber censorship that takes place in cyberspace was examined through relations of dynamics with the self-concepts of users. The components of users’ self-concepts had close connections with phenomena in cyberspace.

The self-concept has two dimensions, holistic and interactional. In other words,

Implications and limitations

In cyberspace, the autonomy of editing that has been monopolized by conventional media is passing to consumers, which means that cyberspace users are going to win more effective control. Cyberspace is more accessible than conventional media, and is varied with respect to the formality and content of information circulation. Thus, there has been an expectation that true freedom of expression will be realized in cyberspace on democratic grounds. With increasing numbers of legal cases regarding

Acknowledgement

This research has been supported by Kyonggi University Research Grant 2016

Chang-Hyun Jin is an associate professor in the department of business Administration at Kyonggi University, Korea. His main research interest is in marketing communication strategies such as branding, communication technology, sports marketing, and consumer psychology. His work has been published in several journals.

References (82)

  • R.P. Bagozzi et al.

    On the evaluation of structural equation models

    Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science

    (1988)
  • A. Bandura

    Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change

    Psychological Reports

    (1977)
  • A. Bandura

    Self-efficacy

  • A. Bandura

    Self-efficacy: The exercise of control

    (1997)
  • N.K. Baym et al.

    Tunes that bind? Predicting friendship strength in a music-based social work

    Information, Communication & Society

    (2009)
  • F. Biocca

    Cyborg's dilemma: Embodiment in virtual environments

    Journal of Computer-mediated Communications

    (1997)
  • R. Bolton

    How to assert yourself listen to others and resolve conflicts

    (1983)
  • M.R. Buckley et al.

    Measurement errors in the behavioral sciences: The case of personality/attitude research

    Educational and Psychological Measurement

    (1990)
  • W.Y. Chang et al.

    Cyberspace of normalization and internet regulation

    Journal of Korean Association for Regional Information Society

    (2005)
  • V.T. Chen et al.

    The acceptance and diffusion of innovation service product use: A case study of delivery service company in logistics

    Information and Management

    (2009)
  • M.J. Culnan

    Protecting privacy online: Is self-regulation working?

    Journal of Public Policy and Marketing

    (2000)
  • V.J. Derlega et al.

    Self-disclosure

    (1993)
  • S.M.H. Dignan

    Ego Identity and material identification

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1965)
  • T. Dinev et al.

    Internet privacy concerns and their antecedents - measurement validity and a regression model

    Behavior & Information Technology

    (2004)
  • T. Dinev et al.

    Internet privacy concerns and social awareness as determinants of intention to transact

    International Journal of Electronic Commerce

    (2005)
  • T. Dinev et al.

    An extended privacy calculus model for e-commerce transactions

    Information Systems Research

    (2006)
  • E.H. Erikson

    Life historical and the historical moment

    (1975)
  • ETNEWS

    Kakao Talk users leaving, will the risk of ‘cyber asylum’ be actualized?

    (2014)
  • R.J. Faber et al.

    Compulsive consumption and credit abuse

    Journal of Consumer Policy

    (1988)
  • C. Fornell et al.

    Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement errors

    Journal of Marketing Research

    (1981)
  • S. Ganesan

    Determinants of long-term orientation in buyer-seller relationships

    Journal of Marketing

    (1994)
  • D. Gefen et al.

    Managing user trust in B2C e-Services

    e- Service Journal

    (2003)
  • E. Goffman

    The presentation of self in every life

    (1959)
  • M.A. Greenberg et al.

    Emotional disclosure about traumas and its relation to health: Effects of previous disclosure and trauma severity

    Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

    (1992)
  • J.F. Hair et al.

    Multivariate data analysis

    (1998)
  • S.R. Hiltz et al.

    The evolution of user behavior in a Computerized Conferencing Systems

    Communications of the ACM

    (1981)
  • C.H. Jin

    The role of facebook users' self-systems in generating social relationships and social capital effects

    New Media & Society

    (2015)
  • A.N. Joinson et al.

    Privacy, trust, and self-disclosure online

    Human Computer Interaction

    (2010)
  • G.R. Jones

    Socialization tactics, self-efficacy, and newcomers' adjustments to organizations

    The Academy of Management Journal

    (1986)
  • T. Jordan

    Cyberpower: The culture and politics of cyberspace and the Internet

    (2000)
  • R. LaRose et al.

    You privacy is assured—of being invaded

    New Media and Society

    (2006)
  • Cited by (0)

    Chang-Hyun Jin is an associate professor in the department of business Administration at Kyonggi University, Korea. His main research interest is in marketing communication strategies such as branding, communication technology, sports marketing, and consumer psychology. His work has been published in several journals.

    View full text