Security Concerns in the Nomological Network of Trust and Big 5: First Order Vs. Second Order

Even though Privacy concerns (PC) and security concerns (SC) are acknowledged as separate constructs, many studies argue that they are related or, even worse, confused. Building upon the non-overlapping SC and PC dimensions, we propose Internet Users Information Transmission Security Concern (IUITSC) scale. We argue that the scale when used in conjunction with PC scale would cover the entire gamut of SC-PC. The construct is tested in a nomological network of Big 5 and trust. The results based on extensive statistical tests including chi-square difference tests suggest that IUITSC may be represented as a second-order factor structure rather than a set of four first-order factors. The results show that personality dimensions of conscientiousness, emotional instability and extraversion are positively associated with IUITSC (second order), which in turn is found to significantly lower trust in a website. Big5 dimensions are found to impact the IUITSC differently depending upon the factor structure.