Exploring the privacy concerns of smartphone app users: a qualitative approach
Marketing Intelligence & Planning
ISSN: 0263-4503
Article publication date: 24 August 2023
Issue publication date: 11 October 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore and identify the privacy concerns of smartphone app users pertinent to app usage.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting a qualitative phenomenological approach, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews with app users to explore the app users' privacy concerns.
Findings
Credibility concerns, unauthorised secondary use and vulnerability concerns are the three major privacy concerns of app users, under which these concerns have sub-concerns, i.e. popularity, privacy policy, stalking, data sharing, hacking and personal harm.
Practical implications
The findings are useful to app marketers, app developers and app stores. App marketers, app developers and app stores can use the findings to understand and properly address app users' privacy concerns, thereby increasing the apps usage.
Originality/value
By exploring the privacy concerns of app users, the authors' study extends the literature and provides a theoretical development of individuals' privacy concerns in the context of a widely used technology, i.e. smartphone applications. Accordingly, this study contributes to the consumer privacy literature.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Since acceptance of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliation(s): Mehak Rehman is at the Department of Marketing, Griffith Business School, Gold Coast Campus, Southport, Australia
Citation
Maseeh, H.I., Nahar, S., Jebarajakirthy, C., Ross, M., Arli, D., Das, M., Rehman, M. and Ashraf, H.A. (2023), "Exploring the privacy concerns of smartphone app users: a qualitative approach", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 41 No. 7, pp. 945-969. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-11-2022-0515
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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