Preliminary insights into the concerns of online privacy and security among millennials in a developing economy
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Date
2019-06-15
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Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology
Abstract
Millennials, described as tech-savvies are knowledgeable and using the internet for a couple of things
ranging from social media, education, e-commerce, entertainment and so on. However, there are growing
concerns lately about online privacy and security with the emergence of the Web 2.0 technologies that
allow a lot of multimedia online which is attractive to the millennials. Although there is a threat to what the
millennials are agreeing to and the information they provide online, yet there are limited studies that have
explored the online privacy issues concerning millennials. Thus, in this study, we investigated millennials
and their awareness concerning online privacy threats and security, whether they are bothered about what
they put online, as well as measures they have put in place to mitigate this menace from a developing
economy perspective. The study employed a quantitative approach where survey data was gathered through
self-administration questionnaires with a random sample of 700 undergraduate students in a public
university in Ghana. The findings revealed that most of the millennials are aware and concerned about
online privacy threats. They are also bothered about privacy effects concerning the information they put
online. Therefore, they wish there are laws and regulations protecting consumers about their online privacy
in Ghana. The originality of the paper stems from the fact that there is paucity of research about online
privacy especially among the millennials in sub-Saharan African countries and our paper is the first to be
done in the Ghanaian context.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Online privacy, Millennials, Internet, Developing economies, Ghana