Privacy Risks, Emotions, and Social Media

Abstract

This study proposes a novel coping model of privacy that extends prior privacy work in two important ways: first, the reconceptualization of privacy coping reflecting both problem- and emotion-focused strategies, and second, the incorporation of discrete emotions as a driver of privacy coping. Results from online survey data ( N = 605) show that Facebook users’ adaptation to privacy risks consists of multifaceted coping strategies that are problem-focused, emotion-focused, and communication-focused. These coping strategies have selective relationships with theoretical antecedents such as cognitive appraisals (i.e., threat appraisals and coping appraisals) and negative emotions (i.e., anger, frustration, regret, and anxiety/fear). Discrete emotions play a crucial functional role in determining users’ coping responses to privacy risks by selectively activating (or deactivating) emotionally congruent (or incongruent) coping strategies. Specifically, approach-associated emotions such as frustration and regret lead to problem-focused privacy coping strategies, whereas avoidance-associated emotions such as anxiety and fear lead to emotion-focused strategies. We also find a new type of privacy coping strategy: communication-focused coping strategies that are affected by regret and anxiety/fear.