Researchers at the Centre for Social Informatics published an article in the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction
Jošt Bartol, Dr. Vasja Vehovar, and Dr. Andraž Petrovčič published an original research article “Cross-contextual analysis of the effects of vertical and horizontal privacy perceptions on willingness to disclose personal information on the internet” in the International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction.
Privacy is often understood as a unitary phenomenon, despite people having different expectations of privacy in relation to different persons and are willing to share different information with them. For example, they are usually willing to share much more with people close to them than with strangers or companies. However, existing research has rarely addressed the differences between the two types of privacy, i.e. vertical and horizontal privacy. The former describes privacy relationships between individuals and institutions, while the latter privacy relationships among individuals.
The aim of the published study was to show that this distinction is a fruitful approach for comparative privacy studies and can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of individuals’ privacy behaviour on the internet. In a large-scale study involving 1,666 people from Slovenia, the authors analysed how vertical and horizontal privacy perceptions influence individuals’ willingness to share personal information in three online contexts: online shopping, social network sites, and instant messaging. The results showed that vertical privacy perceptions play a more prominent role in online shopping and on social network sites, while horizontal privacy perceptions are more important in the case of instant messaging. The study thus confirms that for a deeper understanding of individuals’ online behaviour we should distinguish between vertical and horizontal privacy.
The study was conducted as part of Jošt Bartol's Young Researcher fellowship and co-financed by research projects J5-3100 (Evaluating Probability and Nonprobability Online Panels) and J5-60096 (Internet Privacy Management and Digital Inequalities among Older Internet Users), as well as the research programme P5-0399 (Internet research).