Reducing online privacy risk to facilitate e-service adoption: the influence of perceived ease of use and corporate credibility

Purpose – The paper aims to examine ways to reduce privacy risk and its effects so that adoption of e-services can be enhanced. Design/methodology/approach – Consumers that form a viable target market for an e-service are presented with the task of experiencing the e-service and expressing their attitudes and intentions toward it. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the responses. Findings – The paper finds that consumer beliefs that the e-service will be easy to use and that the e-service provider is credible and capable reduce privacy risk and its effects, thus enhancing adoption likelihood. Research limitations/implications – The focus on a financial services product (online bill paying) suggests that similar research should be conducted with other high-risk e-services (such as those dealing with healthcare) and lower-risk e-services (such as subscription services and social networks). Practical implications – In addition to addressing consumers’ privacy risk directly, e-service providers can also reduce privacy risk and its effects by enhancing corporate credibility and perceived ease of use of the service. Increased assessments of privacy risk perceptions and efforts to reduce those perceptions will likely yield higher usage rates for e-services. Originality/value – The use of the technology acceptance model from information systems research, combined with a multi-faceted conceptualization of privacy risk, moves the examination of privacy risk to a higher level, particularly in light of the examination of the additional factors of perceived ease of use and corporate credibility.