Fitness First or Safety First? Examining Adverse Consequences of Privacy Seals in the Event of a Data Breach.

Abstract

Data breaches are increasing, and fitness trackers have proven to be an ideal target, as they collect highly sensitive personal health data and are not governed by strict security guidelines. Nevertheless, companies encourage their customers to share data with the fitness tracker using privacy seals, gaining their trust without ensuring security. Since companies cannot guarantee security, the question arises on how privacy seals work after not keeping the security promise. This study examines the possibilities to mitigate the consequences of data breaches in advance to maintain the continuance intention. Expectation-confirmation theory (ECT) and privacy assurance statements as a shaping of privacy seals are used to influence customer expectations regarding the data security of fitness trackers in the run-up to a data breach. Results show that the use of privacy assurance statements leads to high-security expectations, and failure to meet these has a negative impact on satisfaction and thus continuance intention.