The Efficacy of Perceived Big Data Security, Trust, Perceived Leadership Competency, Information Sensitivity, Privacy Concern and Job Reward on Disclosing Personal Security Information Online

Individuals’ reluctance to provide sensitive personal information online could affect the US Governments’ ability to hire and retain qualified personnel for sensitive cleared positions. The aim of this research study was to show how perceived big data security, trust, perceived leadership competency, information sensitivity, privacy concern and reward of a job play a significant role in limiting an individuals’ willingness of disclosing sensitive personal information online. While a significant volume of research has examined information disclosure in the health care field, there has not been any published studies on the willingness of online disclosure in order to attain a US Government job. Therefore, this study was undertaken to address this gap, where the principles of Utility Theory were applied, which posits that people make choices by maximizing their utility function over multiple choices. This study was a quantitative study that collected data through online survey using a 7-Point Likert Scale. Random sampling was used to collect data by sending the survey link through email and through Survey Monkey’s participant outreach program to random participants. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the data collected from a total of 206 responses received. Based on the results, it was found that leadership competency, trust in website and job reward have a significant impact on an individual’s willingness to disclose, while perceived big data security and privacy concern did not. It is recommended that the government thoroughly vet leaders in charge, as increase in perceived leadership competency has shown to have an increase in website trust, eventually leading to an individual’s willingness to disclose. Of particular interest and contrary to previous studies on information disclosure, privacy concern did not show a significant influence on willingness to disclose information online. Similarly, from the three personality traits of extraversion, intellect and conscientiousness, only individuals with the conscientiousness trait, showed to have any significant impact on privacy concern. Finally, the aim of this study was to help the government understand online disclosure reluctance in order to hire and retain qualified personnel for cleared positions and contribute to the body of knowledge

An Integrated Framework for Self-disclosure on Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites usage has shown a meteoric rise over the past decade. Social networking sites survive and thrive based on the information that users disclose. The willingness of users to disclose their information lies at the core and is the driving force of the economies of these sites. This study proposed and tested an integrated theoretical framework for self-disclosure on social networking sites. Drawing from three different theoretical perspectives viz. self-congruency theory, privacy calculus theory, and extension of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2), a research model was formulated. The model was tested using survey data of 380 university students. Facebook was used as a prototype for this research. This study examined the effects of the variables emanating from the three different theoretical perspectives mentioned above on the attitudinal, intentional, and behavioral aspects of self-disclosure on social networking sites. Further, the effects of self-congruency and perceived control on trust in social networking sites and its members were evaluated. The contributions to theory and practical implications of the findings are discussed

Insider trading: a study from US origins to a comparison with the European discipline

openThe following thesis aims to analyse the issue of misuse of insider information that could give rise to contrasting phenomenon of insider trading. Subsequently, it is intended to develop a comparative study of the different legislations between the two largest areas of interest: the United States and the European Union. This analysis will be carried out from both a legal and an economic point of view by pursuing these two areas of study in parallel.The following thesis aims to analyse the issue of misuse of insider information that could give rise to contrasting phenomenon of insider trading. Subsequently, it is intended to develop a comparative study of the different legislations between the two largest areas of interest: the United States and the European Union. This analysis will be carried out from both a legal and an economic point of view by pursuing these two areas of study in parallel

Consent as a Free Pass: Platform Power and the Limits of the Informational Turn

Across the United States and Europe, notice and consent, the act of clicking that “I have read and agree” to a platform’s terms of service, is the central device for legitimating and enabling platforms’ data processing, acting as a free pass for a variety of intrusive activities which include profiling and behavioral advertising. Notwithstanding literature and findings that lay significant doubts on notice and consent’s adequacy as a regulatory device in the platform ecosystem, courts, regulators and other public authorities across these regions keep adopting and legitimating these practices. Yet while consent seems a good proxy for ensuring justice in the platform economy, it is an empty construct. This Article explains how notice and consent practices in the platform economy are not only normatively futile but also positively harmful. Narrow understandings that focus on voluntariness and disclosure such as the ones generally adopted by regulators and courts fail to account for the systemically unjust background conditions within which voluntary individual acts of consent take place. Through such narrow approaches, regulators are failing to acknowledge that consent cannot be reasonably taken to morally transform the rights, obligations and relationships that it purports to reshape. Further, it positively harms consumers in at least three ways: burdening them with decisions they cannot meaningfully make; subordinating their core inalienable rights to respect and dignity to the economic interests of platforms and creating widespread ideological resistance against alternatives. Notice and consent as a discourse is hardly contestable and is currently part of the rigid background of assumed facts about our digital environment. As new legislation is devised in the US and new opportunities to reinterpret the GDPR present themselves in the EU, we must be more courageous in looking beyond the façade of individual control and instead grapple with the core structure of corporate surveillance markets. The longer we fail to acknowledge consent’s irrelevance to data governance, the longer we will deny ourselves respect and protection from the evergrowing expansion of digital markets into our lives

Intention to comply with food safety messages in a crisis as a function of message source and message reliability

A key role of public relations is to manage crises, unexpected yet unpredictable events that cause emotional and physical harm (Coombs, 2007). Among the challenges in handling a crisis effectively is dealing with the various media in which information is presented. Because the use of social media in a crisis is a relatively new phenomenon, further understanding of the challenges and opportunities of these media is warranted. Part of meeting this challenge requires precise modeling of consumer responses to safety messages. To remedy gaps in our understanding of social media and food safety crisis communications, consumer intent to comply with a food safety message was evaluated within the framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991). Superimposed on the TPB intention model were possible moderator variables of message source (professional versus user-generated) and message reliability (confirmed versus unconfirmed information). Three focus groups provided background for the construction of a research instrument according to guidelines specified by Francis, Eccles, Johnston, Walker, Foy, et al. (2004). A 2x2 experimental design with four scenarios (message source x reliability), and realism checks of the scenarios were conducted. A pilot test with 130 undergraduate university students preceded administration of the instrument to a representative U.S. consumer panel of 400 participants. Results indicated that intent to comply with a food safety message was higher in response to messages in professional sources than in user-generated sources, but that the majority of this effect could be explained by participant age, which in turn predicted use of social media. Message reliability did not affect intent to comply—confirmed and unconfirmed messages had similar effects on intent to comply. All aspects of the TPB were confirmed by the current results with the exception of perceived behavioral control, which was so consistently strong that it was unable to predict variations in intent to comply with a food safety message. Consequently, the current data support the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA; Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) rather than the TPB. Implications of the results for public relations and crisis communications, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research are discussed

Manipulating, Lying, and Engineering the Future

Decision-making should reflect personal autonomy. Yet, it is not entirely an autonomous process. Influencing individuals’ decision-making is not new. It is and always has been the engine that drives markets, politics, and debates. However, in the digital marketplace of ideas the nature of influence is different in scale, scope, and depth. The asymmetry of information shapes a new model of surveillance capitalism. This model promises profits gained by behavioral information collected from consumers and personal targeting. The Internet of Things, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence open a new dimension for manipulation. In the age of Metaverse that would be mediated through virtual spaces and augmented reality manipulation is expected to get stronger. Such manipulation could be performed by either commercial corporations or governments, though this Article primarily focuses on the former, rather than the latter. Surveillance capitalism must depend on technology but also on marketing, as commercial entities push their goods and agendas unto their consumers. This new economic order presents benefits in the form of improved services, but it also has negative consequences: it treats individuals as instruments; it may infringe on individuals’ autonomy and future development; and it manipulates consumers to make commercial choices that could potentially harm their own welfare. Moreover, it may also hinder individuals’ free speech and erode some of the privileges enshrined in a democracy. What can be done to limit the negative consequences of hyper-manipulation in digital markets? Should the law impose limitations on digital influence? If so, how and when? This Article aims to answer these questions in the following manner: First, this Article demonstrates how companies influence decisions by collecting, analyzing, and manipulating information. Understanding the tools of the new economic order is the first step in developing legal policy that mitigates harm. Second, this Article analyzes the concept of manipulation. It explains how digital manipulation differs from traditional commercial influences in scope, scale, and depth. Since there are many forms of manipulation, an outright ban on manipulation is not possible, nor is it encouraged since it could undermine the very basis of free markets and even free speech. As a result, this Article proposes a limiting principle on entities identified in literature as “powerful commercial speakers,” focusing on regulating lies and misrepresentations of these entities. This Article outlines disclosure obligations of contextual elements of advertisements and imposes a duty of avoiding false information. In addition to administrative enforcement of commercial lies and misrepresentations, this Article advocates for a new remedy of compensation for autonomy infringement when a powerful speaker lies or disobeys mandated disclosure on products. Third, this Article proposes a complementary solution for long-term effects of manipulation. This solution does not focus on the manipulation itself, but rather offers limitations on data retention for commercial purposes. Such limitations can mitigate the depth of manipulation and may prevent commercial entities from shackling individuals to their past decisions. Fourth, this Article addresses possible objections to the proposed solutions, by demonstrating that they are not in conflict with the First Amendment, but rather promote freedom of expression

Informational Regulation, the Environment, and the Public

Informational Regulation, the Environment, and the Public generates a typology to analyze how public disclosure functions in informational regulation. In the environmental context, informational regulation compels the public disclosure of environmental information without mandating substantive environmental outcomes in the expectation that disclosure itself will prompt beneficial change in the environmental context. Application of the Article’s typology reveals that the emperor has no clothes: Communication of environmental information to the public is considered central to policies employing informational regulation, but the information produced pursuant to these measures largely fails to reach or be understood by lay individuals. For example, empirical data shows that corporations required to publicly report releases under the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) do change their conduct to reduce those releases despite being under no legal obligation to do so. Most people, however, are wholly unaware of the information disclosed under the TRI and, even if made aware of it, unable to comprehend its significance. This insight calls into question oft-cited normative bases for environmental information regulation, including that it supports individual autonomy (by informing choice about exposure to risk) and enriches civic perspective (by enhancing participation in administrative process and other civic behaviors). Critical examination of how informational regulation works and the effects it produces is timely and important. Environmental law increasingly embraces policies that employ informational regulation—it is, for example, central to current proposals to require greater disclosure of climate change risk under securities laws and constitutes a core element of many Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) protocols. Yet, close analysis suggests that the success of public disclosure at prompting upstream effects (changing the behavior of regulated entities) masks its general failure to speak to the lay public. Improving informational regulation requires a clear-eyed assessment of its limitations and a recognition that information cannot simply be pumped into the public domain and expected to enlighten individuals

Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 1

This is the complete volume of HMC Volume 1

A Qualitative Analysis of the Environmental and Personal Factors which Influence the Help-Seeking Behaviors of Men who have Sex with Men in Light of the Emerging Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance to Shigella Bacteria

ABSTRACT A Qualitative Analysis of the Environmental and Personal Factors which Influence the Help-Seeking Behaviors of Men who have Sex with Men in Light of the Emerging Threat of Antimicrobial Resistance to Shigella Bacteria By Kathleen McCready Jacobson November 29, 2018 INTRODUCTION: Compared to their male counterparts, men who have sex with men (MSM) in the U.S. are burdened by a number of health disparities. Surveillance has confirmed that the MSM population are disproportionately impacted with shigellosis, a diarrheal condition caused by Shigella bacteria. The bacteria are showing signs of antimicrobial resistance, resulting in a reduction of treatment options and raising the risk of critical outcomes for those with HIV. AIM: The aim of this study was to determine which elements of the triadic reciprocal causation model most influences the help-seeking behaviors of men who have sex with men both in general and as they relate to the emerging threat of antimicrobial resistance to Shigella bacteria/shigellosis. METHODS: A total of n=24 participants recruited in metro Atlanta, Georgia took part in one of six focus groups designed to explore the personal and environmental factors which influence and guide their help-seeking behaviors as they relate to the new and emerging threat of antimicrobial resistance to Shigella bacteria. Employing the principles of grounded theory, the data were analyzed using MAXqda to identify themes that emerged during the discussions. RESULTS: Themes surrounding the factors that influence the help-seeking behaviors of MSM are that most use the internet to search for general and sexual health information because it is convenient and widely available; information from the internet is viewed as less credible and trustworthy than the information received from a doctor, many participants stated a preference for a doctor who is gay-friendly; most turn to their social network for help and advice in finding a gay-friendly doctor. Relating to the emerging threat of shigellosis, the participants revealed an absence of or limited knowledge of the condition; they perceive there is a lack of awareness in the wider population and the medical community; they feel targeted by current shigellosis-related health materials; some feel encumbered by one more life-threatening disease; outcome expectancies related to shigellosis may drive help-seeking behaviors; varying opinions as to whether shigellosis should be labeled an STD; and cost may be a barrier to seeking a medical test for this condition. DISCUSSION: Understanding the factors which influence help-seeking behaviors of MSM will inform those in research and public health and assist in the design of future health communication campaigns to raise awareness of new and emerging threats

Data Management Law for the 2020s: The Lost Origins and the New Needs

In the data analytics society, each individual’s disclosure of personal information imposes costs on others. This disclosure enables companies, deploying novel forms of data analytics, to infer new knowledge about other people and to use this knowledge to engage in potentially harmful activities. These harms go beyond privacy and include difficult to detect price discrimination, preference manipulation, and even social exclusion. Currently existing, individual-focused, data protection regimes leave law unable to account for these social costs or to manage them. This Article suggests a way out, by proposing to re-conceptualize the problem of social costs of data analytics through the new frame of “data management law.” It offers a critical comparison of the two existing models of data governance: the American “notice and choice” approach and the European “personal data protection” regime (currently expressed in the General Data Protection Regulation). Tracing their origin to a single report issued in 1973, the Article demonstrates how they developed differently under the influence of different ideologies (market-centered liberalism, and human rights, respectively). It also shows how both ultimately failed at addressing the challenges outlined already forty-five years ago. To tackle these challenges, this Article argues for three normative shifts. First, it proposes to go beyond “privacy” and towards “social costs of data management” as the framework for conceptualizing and mitigating negative effects of corporations’ data usage. Second, it argues to go beyond the individual interests, to account for collective ones, and to replace contracts with regulation as the means of creating norms governing data management. Third, it argues that the nature of the decisions about these norms is political, and so political means, in place of technocratic solutions, need to be employed