Privacy, Self-Sovereign Identity Technology and the Willingness to Provide Personal Information
The internet has caused an unprecedented increase in the amount of personal information that is available online. This personal information has been harnessed directly by companies, to provide targeted marketing to 3rd parties. It can also be used for a company's own internal marketing communication practices. Further highlighting the importance of personal information, some companies have emerged whose business models depend on the accurate collection, and monetisation of this personal information (Streitfeld, 2018). This has led to interest and concern over the misuse of personal information, and the extent companies should benefit from the acquisition of personal information of consumers and 3rd parties. Technological innovation, specifically Blockchain Technology has created the possibility to eliminate these actual or perceived abuses of consumer data, and allow consumers to exercise greater control over their personal data. Blockchain Technology can be simply understood as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet where hundreds of participants continuously verify each entry in the spreadsheet so that no incorrect or fraudulent inputs are made. Specifically, SelfSovereign Identity Technology, currently in its early stages, may allow consumers to have full control of their consumer data via the Blockchain. This includes, access, distribution and may even allow consumers to monetise their own personal information. If consumers fully embrace Self-Sovereign Identity Technology, businesses will have to rethink and overhaul their data collection, marketing practices and business models. On the other hand, consumers will have to decide what they will do, with the data relating to their digital identity and how they might exchange it for their benefit. Despite its potential to disrupt the collection of personal information by companies, a scholarly analysis of the use Self-Sovereign Identity Technology and its relationship with a consumer's willingness to share personal information has not yet happened. Thus the aim of this thesis is two-fold. Firstly, to understand what drives a consumer to disclose personal information over the internet. Secondly, to understand the connection between this willingness to disclose personal information, and the use of Self-Sovereign Identity Technology. This is investigated using a survey analysis and primary data. This study aspires to create an academic basis for the examination of Self-Sovereign Identity Technology and its relationship with the willingness of consumers to provide personal information. In this study several factors were found to affect a South African consumer's willingness to provide personal information online. Based on the prior work of Schoenbachler and Gordon (2010) and Phelps, Nowak and Ferrel (2000) several perceived risk factors and trust factors were hypothesised to affect this willingness to provide personal information. The trust factors included: past experience with a company, reputation of a company and perception of dependability. The perceived risk factors included: type of personal information requested, consequences and benefits, individual consumer characteristics and consumer control over information. All of these factors were found to be significant except for the perception of dependability, which was not supported. Furthermore, perceived functional value was found to moderate the relationship between individual consumer characteristics and the willingness to provide personal information. Lastly, this study found evidence that a relationship exists between the willingness to provide personal information online and the willingness to use SSI technology. This relationship was found to be strong, and negative.
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