본 연구에서는 소비자의 개인정보의 가치평가와 개인정보 제공 및 보호행동, 그리고 기타 변수들 간의 인과성을분석한 결과 다음과 같은 결론을 얻었다. 첫째, 소비자의 개인정보 관련 소비자행동과 소비자의 개인정보 가치평가간의 인과적 관계를 알아본 결과, 소비자의 행동이 가치평가에 유의한 영향을 주며 가치평가는 행동에 유의한 영향을 주지 않음을 발견하였다. 개인정보에 대한 가치평가를 하나의 태도라고 볼 때 이는 행동이 태도에 영향을 주는결과로 보일 수 있다. 그러나 개인정보 관련 소비자행동이 기존 연구에서 알려진 바와 같이 또다른 선행변수들에영향을 받음을 알 수 있었고, 이에 따라 다음과 같은 연구모형을 확인할 수 있었다: 소비자의 개인정보 관련 태도변수들(우려, 위험인지, 통제력, 신뢰, 만족도)이 개인정보 제공/보호 행동에 영향을 미치며, 이러한 개인정보 관련행동들은 다시 개인정보 가치평가에 영향을 미친다. 둘째, 일반적으로 가치평가에 큰 영향을 미칠 것으로 예상되었던 인구통계학적 특성들도 뚜렷한 유의성을 보이지 않았다. 이는 여타의 재화나 서비스와 달리 개인정보만이 갖고있는, 한 개인의 가치를 나타낸다는 독특한 특성에 기인한 것이라 생각되며, 이에 대하여 보다 심층적인 연구가 지속되어야 할 것이다. 셋째, 소비자집단별 특성에 따른 개인정보 관련 정책 집행이 요구되며, 이를 위해서는 관심대상인 변수의 수준별로 소비자집단을 세분화시켜 분석할 수 있는 분위회귀 등의 새로운 연구방법을 도입할 필요가있다. 이는 각 집단의 특징에 따른 정책 설계에 도움을 줄 것이며, 전체 소비자들의 평균적인 요구 수준에 맞춘 정책보다는 각 세부 소비자 집단들의 특성에 맞춘 정책의 실행이 필요하다.
The advent of information age followed after digital revolution made consumers who had been used to taking goods and service passively become providers (i.e. sellers). In this study,using Structural Equation Model (SEM), we examined whether consumer behaviors, such as providing and protecting personal information, and the valuation of personal information have causality. In addition to this, a comparison between the results of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and quantile regression analysis was conducted.
For this, an online survey was conducted during a week in the midst of Sept. 2007. Respondents were the people older than 16-years-old and living in Seoul and in the metropolitan area. The data used in the final analysis consists of 985 samples, excluding inconsistently- and insufficiently-answered samples.
Through the literature review, five variables were chosen to be determinants of consumers’habit of providing personal information and their protecting behavior regarding personal information. Those variables are: concern of providing personal information, perceived risk of environment when providing personal information, demand for control over consumers’ own personal information, trust in the company which asks to provide personal information, and satisfaction with the previous experiences when providing personal information.
By SEM, the causality among these 5 variables, consumers’ habits of providing personal information and protecting behaviors regarding personal information was analyzed. Also,considering the fact that the valuation of personal information has a very large variance, a more intricate and sophisticated method was needed for the analysis. For this reason, the valuation of personal information, consumers’ habits of providing personal information, and protecting behavior of personal information, were examined, applying both OLS and quantile regression analysis.
The findings are as follows: First, through the analysis of SEM, we found that consumers’habit of providing personal information and its valuation were positively related. Also,protecting behavior of personal information was negatively related to the valuation of personal information. However, coefficient of the consumers’ habit of providing personal information was not significant.
Second, it was shown with the OLS and quantile regression analysis that the ex-insignificant variables, like consumers’ habits of providing personal information and other socio-economic variables, turned out to be significant in several quantiles (especially not in the both extreme quantiles). Consumers’ protecting behaviors regarding personal information was much highly significant in the top 5 quantiles.
This study came to the following conclusions based on the research results so far: First,logically thinking, the valuation of personal information as an attitude has to make an affect on behaviors, like providing and protecting personal information. However, in this paper,consumers’ valuation of personal information turned out to be explained only by their behaviors related to manage their own information, when they have to express the value of the information with some amount of money. As a result, consumers’ habitual or accustomed behaviors exert influences on valuing personal information. But we noticed that precedent variables related to consumers’ attitudes were affecting consumers behaviors through SEM and from this analysis,we confirmed the model of this study.
Second, socio-economic variables, which are thought to have most significant effects on valuing personal information in general, turned out not to have so much significant relation.
This could come from the fact that personal information is a very unique good, quite different from the other goods or services, since it represents the value of a person. More studies need to be done to analyze (a) the relation between socio-economic variables and valuation of personal information, and (b) other variables that affect consumers’s valuation of personal information.
Third, the characteristics and peculiarities of each consumer subgroup have to be discovered in advance so that policies related to personal information should be executed. By applying a new and more sophisticated methodology and having more practical results, policies that accommodate each subgroup’s traits can be proposed and carried out.
This study contributes in the field of methodology and consumer policies: Methodologically,it differs from previous studies by using both double-bounded dichotomous and direct questionnaires, which made the result more reliable. Also, by comparing the results from OLS and quantile regression analysis, the effects of variables were thoroughly examined. Additionally,ordered probit model used in measuring values was found not so proper and needed more consideration before ordering answers. In the policy aspects, elementary level of consumer education has no more power as before, since Koreans showed a tendency to behave more actively when they manage their personal information. Even though the basics of enlightenment are necessary all the time, more evolved policies are indispensable from now on, to meet the consumers’ demands.
From the conclusion mentioned above, the following recommendations are suggested. As for the consumer policy related to personal information, the most urgent problem is an enactment of Korean data protection law. Three bills regarding the protection of personal information have been introduced since 2004 but are still pending. Not only this information law but also an independent organization taking charge with overall personal information problems has to be established soon. In addition, the constant conduct of a national survey concerning personal information problems will improve the environment and legislative system in information market.
For further research, measuring consumers’ providing and protecting behaviors in qualitative aspects is highly demanded. Comparing to the international consumers’ behavior, Koreans’remain in a simple and basic level overall. An adoption of qualitative approach with existing quantitative methodology will bring lots of discoveries and findings to the researches in a similar field.
Lastly, information market can be more improved by active and live trades among market subjects. Information collectors in the market can make trades vigorous by changing the environmental elements like satisfaction in trades or reliability on the opposite subject in a better way.
