Research authors: Jošt Bartol, Vasja Vehovar in
Andraž Petrovčič

Research year: 2022

Key words: internet; safety on the
Internet; privacy; focus groups; information privacy concerns 

The research is part of a
doctoral dissertation entitled "A comprehensive measurement framework for
information privacy concerns in online contexts." The concept of
‘information privacy concerns,’ lays a central role in the research on
privacy-related human behaviour on the internet. While there are several
conceptualisation and operationalisation of this concept in the literature, there
is a lack of clear definition and understanding of the similarities and
differences between the two types of information privacy concerns, horizontal
and vertical information privacy concerns. Horizontal concerns relate to the
actions of other internet users, whereas vertical concerns stem from the
actions of private or public institutions. The goal of this dissertation is to
provide the foundation for a comprehensive approach for conceptualizing and
measuring information privacy concerns in online environments with a specific
focus on the vertical and horizontal levels. This study represents the first
phase of doctoral dissertation’s empirical research. In this phase, the aim was
to gain an in-depth understanding of how internet users view their privacy in
the online environment and to understand their concerns. The research also
addresses the question of similarities or differences between vertical and
horizontal information privacy concerns. In pursuit of this goal, 6 focus
groups were conducted.

Cite the research: Bartol, J., Vehovar, V.
and Petrovčič, A. (2023). Information privacy on the internet, 2022: Focus
groups [Data file]. Ljubljana: Univerza v Ljubljani = University of Ljubljana,
Arhiv družboslovnih podatkov = Slovenian Social Science Data Archives. ADP -
IDNo: IZI22. https://doi.org/10.17898/ADP_IZI22_V1