A STUDY ON THE INDIVIDUALS' PERCEPTIONS OF RISK AND CONFIDENTIALITY ELEMENTS IN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT; DEVELOPED VS. DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

This research intends to investigate if different nations living in developed and developing countrieshave similar perceptions on the elements of security, privacy, security statement, technical protection,trust, perceived risk and trust propensity. For this purpose, the data was collected from 165 individualsin Malaysia and 172 individuals in Canada. After the test of reliability and normality of the data, theindependent-samples t-test was performed and it was found that there are significant differences between Malaysians' and Canadians' perceptions of the mentioned variables. The results indicate that while Canadians have higher perceptions of the security, technical protection and security statement of the Websites they make their purchase from, Malaysians have higher mean values in the privacy mechanisms of the online stores. Moreover, it was found that Canadians have higher trust propensity and trust in the Websites whereas Malaysians have higher risk propensity. The findings suggest that companies should formulate customized strategies to address the concerns of different nations regarding the privacy and security risks associated with any online transaction and activity.

Keywords:

Security , Privacy , Security Statement , Technical Protection , Risk Propensity , Trust Propensity , Malaysia , Canada