Earticle

초록

영어

This study investigates the key factors that shape users' privacy-preserving behaviors in online environments by extending Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) with the concept of habit. While prior information privacy research has largely emphasized motivational antecedents such as self-efficacy, the present study argues that online privacy behavior is governed not only by deliberate, intention-based processes but also by automatic behavioral tendencies. To address this gap, the study proposes and empirically tests an integrated research model in which privacy concerns, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and subjective norms serve as enabling factors of privacy-preserving intentions, while counter-intentional habits operate as an inhibiting factor that directly undermines both privacy-preserving intentions and privacy-preserving behaviors. Drawing on SCT and integrating both enabling and inhibiting mechanisms, the study offers a more comprehensive explanation of privacy-preserving behavior in online settings. To empirically test the proposed model, the study employed a cross-sectional survey design and collected data in October 2025 from Chinese undergraduate and graduate student internet users through Wenjuanxing, using convenience sampling. After removing incomplete responses, 336 valid cases were retained for analysis. The hypothesized relationships were examined using covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM), with SPSS 29 employed for data preprocessing and demographic analysis and SmartPLS 4 used for model estimation and validation. The results confirm that privacy concerns, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and subjective norms each exert a significant positive effect on privacy-preserving intentions, supporting their role as motivational antecedents. Privacy-preserving intentions, in turn, positively predict privacy-preserving behaviors, affirming that intention remains a central mechanism through which cognitive and social drivers translate into actual protective action. Simultaneously, counter-intentional habits significantly weaken privacy-preserving intentions and exert a direct negative effect on privacy-preserving behaviors, demonstrating that habitual non-protective routines can override even well-formed protective intentions. Furthermore, mediation analysis reveals that privacy-preserving intentions significantly mediate the effects of the four enabling factors (privacy concerns, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and subjective norms), as well as the inhibiting effect of counter-intentional habits, on privacy-preserving behaviors. This study extends SCT by demonstrating that online privacy-preserving behavior is jointly shaped by motivational enabling factors and automatic inhibiting mechanisms. In particular, counter-intentional habits directly hinder both protective intentions and behaviors, underscoring the critical role of automatic behavioral processes in information privacy research. These findings suggest that effective privacy interventions must not only reinforce users' protective intentions through enhanced concern, efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and social support, but also actively disrupt users’ habitual non-protective routines.

목차

Abstract
1. 서론
2. 이론적 배경 및 가설 설정
2.1. 이론적 배경
2.2. 연구모형 및 가설 도출
4. 실증분석
4.1. 연구방법
4.2. 측정모형 분석
4.3. 구조모형 분석 및 가설검증
5. 결론
5.1. 연구 결과 요약
5.2. 이론적 및 실무적 시사점
5.3. 연구의 한계 및 향후 연구 방향
참고문헌

키워드

저자

• 왕젠보 [ Wang, Jianbo | 부산대학교 경영학과 ]
• 김종기 [ Kim, Jongki | 부산대학교 경영학과 ] Corresponding Author

참고문헌

발행기관

간행물

표지보기 관심저널 등록

• 간행물명

  Journal of China Studies

• 간기

  계간

• pISSN

  1975-5902

• eISSN

  3022-5590

• 수록기간

  2006~2026

• 등재여부

  KCI 등재

• 십진분류

  KDC 912 DDC 951