Jošt Bartol successfully defended his doctoral dissertation

Jošt Bartol, teaching assistant at the Faculty of Social Sciences and member of the Centre for Social Informatics, University of Ljubljana, successfully defended his doctoral dissertation "A Comprehensive Approach to Measuring Information Privacy Concerns in Online Environments" on Friday, September 26, 2025.

In his dissertation, which consists of three original scientific articles, he extended existing approaches to measuring individuals' information privacy concerns in online environments, thereby providing a solid foundation for further work in this field.

The articles include:

• Systematic review of literature: Systematic review of survey scales measuring information privacy concerns on social network sites
• In-depth qualitative study: Dimensions of vertical and horizontal information privacy concerns: a qualitative reassessment and revised definition
• A quantitative survey study: Cross-contextual analysis of the effects of vertical and horizontal privacy perceptions on willingness to disclose personal information on the internet

The dissertation was written as part of the study programme Statistics at the University of Ljubljana and financed by the "Young Researchers" programme. The work was done under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Vasja Vehovar and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Andraž Petrovčič. The doctoral student's supervisory committee consisted of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gregor Sočan, Prof. Dr. Matevž Bren, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Philipp K. Masur.