Journal of Information Technology Research, 5(3), 85-97, July-September 2012 85
Copyright © 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
Keywords: Information Disclosure Behaviour, Perceived Severity, Perceived Vulnerability, Protection
Motivation Theory, Social Network Sites
INTRODUCTION
The Social Network Sites (SNS) such as
Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Friendster, etc.
have become an unprecedented phenomenon
that transform the way people communicate
and interact with others. A growing number of
Facebook users over time indicate that people
have gained the benefit from using its services.
The Facebook statistics (Facebook Newsroom,
2012) show that there are 845 million monthly
active users at the end of December 2011 and
more than 50% of monthly active users accessed
the site from their mobile phone.
In order to use SNS, potential users need
to provide their personal information to SNS
for registration purpose. After the new ac-
count is confirmed through e-mail, users can
An Empirical Investigation
on Internet Privacy on
Social Network Sites among
Malaysian Youths
Norsaremah Salleh, International Islamic University Malaysia, Malaysia
Ramlah Hussein, Sri Jentayu Sdn Bh, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Norshidah Mohamed, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
People have been using Social Network Sites (SNS) to communicate and make friends online. Although SNS
offer many benefits to users, information privacy seems to be overlooked. Based on the Protection Motivation
Theory, this study investigated the factors that might influence youths to disclose information about themselves
on the SNS. Four factors were investigated to determine whether there are significant relationships between
them and information disclosure. The factors were perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, perceived benefits
and self-efficacy. A self-administered questionnaire was developed to capture useful information pertaining
to the subject matter. Using university students as sample, five hundred questionnaires were distributed and
four hundred and eighty six were collected for further analysis. The results revealed that perceived vulner-
ability, perceived benefits and self-efficacy were significantly related to information disclosure, while perceived
severity was not significantly related.
DOI: 10.4018/jitr.2012070105