Ghanaian Consumers Online Privacy Concerns: Causes and its Effects on E-Commerce Adoption

Online privacy has gradually become a concern for internet users over the years as a result of the interconnection of customers’ devices with other devices supporting the internet technology. This research investigates and discusses the factors that influence the privacy concerns faced by online consumers of internet services and the possible outcomes of these privacy concerns on the African online market with Ghana being the primary focus. Results from this study indicated that only 10.1% of respondents felt that the internet was safe for purchase and payment transaction in Ghana. However, respondents were willing to shop online if e-Commerce was the only means of getting their products. Respondents also had a high sense of perceived vulnerability and their perceived vulnerability to unauthorized data collection and misuse of personal information could affect Ghanaian e-Commerce platform adoption. The perceived ability of users of e-Commerce platforms in Ghana to control data collection and its subsequent use by other third parties was also found to negatively impact customers’ willingness to wholly transact and share their personal information online. The perceived vulnerability was found to be affected by the high levels of internet illiteracy whiles the perceived ability to control the collection of information and use was influenced by both the internet literacy level as well as the level of social awareness of the Ghanaian internet consumer. Keywords—E-Commerce; technology adoption; online privacy; perceived vulnerability; perceived control