Privacy Concern Scale (Malhotra et al. 2004, 4-item adaptation)

What it measures

Measures a consumer's general sensitivity to and concern about how companies handle their personal information. Adapted from Malhotra, Kim, and Agarwal's (2004) Internet Users' Information Privacy Concerns (IUIPC) scale. Used as a control variable in Martin et al.'s Study 3 to ensure that data vulnerability effects were not simply a function of pre-existing privacy attitudes.

Response format

7-point Likert (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree)

Scale items

• I am sensitive to the way companies handle my personal information.
• It is important to keep my privacy intact from online companies.
• Personal privacy is very important, compared to other subjects.
• I am concerned about threats to my personal privacy.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Adapted from Malhotra, N.K., Kim, S.S., & Agarwal, J. (2004). Internet users' information privacy concerns (IUIPC): The construct, the scale, and a causal model. Information Systems Research, 15(4), 336–355. This 4-item version was used as a control variable by Martin et al. (2017). Notably, privacy concern was not a significant predictor of negative customer behaviours after accounting for data vulnerability, supporting the validity of the vulnerability construct.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Martin, K.D., Borah, A., & Palmatier, R.W. (2017). Data privacy: Effects on customer and firm performance. Journal of Marketing, 81(1), 36–58.

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