The Impact of Government Trust Perception on Privacy Risk Perceptions and Consumer Acceptance Of Residual RFID Technologies

Many organizations are adopting radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies. These technologies can provide many benefits to the organizations that use them. However, many of these RFID tags remain active after the consumers purchase them. We call these RFID tags, placed in a product for one purpose and left in the product after it has served that purpose, Residual RFIDs. Residual RFID technology can have many positive and negative affects on consumers, business, and society. In this study, we outline some of the likely advantages and disadvantages of Residual RFID from the consumer perspective, then follow up with an in-depth survey of consumer perceptions. In the survey, we attempt to ascertain how consumers will react to the pending implementation of Residual RFID technologies on a mass scale. Specifically, we explore how consumers’ perceptions of trust, privacy risk likelihood and privacy risk harm impact their intentions to use the technology, particularly as it pertains to the perceived role of government in the regulation of RFID and the protection of consumer privacy.