Members of the Centre for Social Informatics published an original research article in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

Dr. Jošt Bartol, Laura Fatur, and Dr. Andraž Petrovčič have published an original research article titled “Perceived Corporate and Peer Surveillance on the Internet: Scale Development and Validation” in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

In today’s digital society, individuals’ online activities are often observed by others. When people feel like they are being watched online, they may adjust their behaviour to protect their privacy. Such surveillance can originate from both companies and institutions, as well as other internet users. Consequently, it is necessary to distinguish between individuals’ perceptions of corporate and peer surveillance. Valid empirical research in this area requires appropriate measurement instruments; however, existing instruments address corporate but not peer surveillance. This prevents a comprehensive examination of the issue, particularly in online environments where both types of surveillance are present, such as social media.

In a recently published study, the authors addressed this gap. Building on the perceived corporate surveillance scale, they developed a scale to measure perceived peer surveillance. Both scales were then tested on a national sample of adult internet users from Slovenia (N = 1,666). For each scale, the study examined structural validity, internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, measurement invariance, and construct validity. The analysis supported both scales and highlighted the importance of distinguishing between perceived corporate and peer surveillance. The study thus provides valid and reliable measurement instruments that enable a comprehensive analysis of the antecedents and consequences of perceived surveillance in different online environments.

The study was financed by research project J5-60096 (Internet Privacy Management and Digital Inequalities among Older Internet Users) and the research programme P5-0399 (Internet Research).