The continued proliferation of information technology in all aspects of our lives fosters benefits but also generates risks to individuals’ privacy. In emerging contexts, such as government surveillance technologies, there is
a dearth of research investigating the positive and negative drivers of citizens’ acceptance. This is an important
gap given the importance of citizen acceptance to the success of these technologies and the need to balance
potentially wide-reaching benefits with any dilution of citizen privacy. We conduct a longitudinal examination of
the competing influences of positive beliefs and privacy concerns on citizens’ acceptance of a COVID-19 national
contact tracing mobile application among 405 Irish citizens. Combining privacy calculus theory with social
exchange theory, we find that citizens’ initial acceptance is shaped by their perceptions of health benefits and
social influence, with reciprocity exhibiting a sustained influence on acceptance over time and privacy concerns
demonstrating a negative, albeit weak influence on willingness to rely on the application. The study offers
important empirical and theoretical implications for the privacy literature in the government surveillance,
location-based services, and mobile health application contexts, as well as practical implications for governments
and developers introducing applications that rely on mass acceptance and reciprocal information disclosure
Item Type:
Article (Published)
Refereed:
Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:
Privacy calculus; Reciprocity; Government surveillance technology; Privacy; Contact tracing; Proximity tracing; Health surveillance technology; Mobile applications; COVID-19