A Qualitative Investigation of Risk Perceptions in the Case of Check-in Services

Various data scandals have raised people’s risk perceptions all around the world. Due to the sensitivity of location information, these concerns are particularly significant in the context of mobile location-based services (LBS) and are generally considered a major inhibiting factor for their usage. The aim of this study is to investigate different risk facets that encompass a special type of LBS usage, namely location-based social networking service (LBSNS) usage. Based on previous literature, eight risk facets are revealed. The qualitative study provided support for five of the identified risk facets, namely: secondary use risk, provider misrepresentation risk, social risk, property risk and surveillance risk. Additionally, perceived risk of stalking was identified as a new risk facet and the concept of social risk was refined into three subcategories. This study contributes to extant research by further specifying perceived risk which leads to a better understanding of the concept of LBSNS usage.