Communication Anonymizers: Personality, Internet Privacy Literacy and their Influence on Technology Acceptance

Despite the fact that many individuals are concerned about privacy issues on the Internet and know about the existence of communication anonymizers, very few individuals actually use them. This discrepancy can only partially be explained by evident factors such as a small degree of knowledge about Internet privacy issues, or the latency of the Internet connection caused by communication anonymizers. In this study, we determine factors that influence the acceptance of communication anonymizers: the role of personality traits of individuals, the actual knowledge about privacy issues on the Internet and how much individuals really know about them, as well as the time an individual is willing to wait when using a communication anonymizer. Our study shows that the personality traits ‘Agreeableness,’ ‘Extroversion’ and ‘Conscientiousness’ do not influence an individual’s acceptance of communication anonymizers. Further, we can show that individuals with a strong personality trait of neuroticism are more likely to have strong privacy concerns and that individuals that can be characterized as ‘open’ are more likely to use communication anonymizers. With regard to the knowledge about privacy issues on the Internet, we find that individuals generally possess a low knowledge. Surprisingly, we find a negative correlation between an individual’s ‘stated’ and his/her‘actual’ knowledge of privacy issues. Last, we find that individuals are willing to wait slightly longer (3.5 seconds) when using communication anonymizers.