Dependent Variables in the Privacy-Related Field: A Descriptive Literature Review

Abstract

As privacy is an ongoing issue of both society and research, there is a tremendous amount of research on privacy in the domain of information systems. A plethora of these studies has been conducted on privacy-related dependent variables. This descriptive literature review summarizes used dependent variables and gives a detailed analysis of the variables including the research setting, used theories, used methodologies, and used research designs. Results show among others that 1) some dependent variables are under-researched, 2) the majority is using intention to disclose as their dependent variable, 3) many articles are not grounded in a basic underlying theory and 4) the majority is using cross-sectional surveys as their research design. Based on the results several recommendations for future research are given, including to use certain dependent variables, to focus on actual disclosure behaviour and to conduct longitudinal studies.