Risk Hurts Fun: The Influence of Perceived Privacy Risk on Social Network Site Usage

Some studies suggest that Perceived Privacy Risk exerts no influence on the Actual System Use of a Social Network Site. However, the potential indirect relationships between Perceived Privacy Risk and Actual System Use through its central antecedents have so far been overlooked. In this paper, we postulate that Perceived Privacy Risk exerts a negative influence on the Perceived Enjoyment of Social Network Sites, one of the central antecedents of Actual System Use. After surveying 415 students and applying a structural equation modeling approach, we confirmed an indirect negative effect of Perceived Privacy Risk on Actual System Use through Perceived Enjoyment. Overall, our study suggests that SNS service providers need to actively manage people’s perceptions of privacy risk.