Research Article Open Access

Navigating the Privacy Paradox: Understanding Privacy Behaviour of Generation Z in Pakistan's E-commerce Landscape

Abstract

The proliferation of technology has made it easy for people to shop online using multiple platforms. Despite vulnerabilities related to privacy during online shopping, people still shop online which raises concern about inconsistency in their attitude towards privacy also known as the “Privacy paradox”. Drawing upon the theoretical perspectives of privacy calculus theory, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and privacy protection motivation, this study aims to analyse the privacy concerns among Generation Z in Pakistan and explore the privacy paradox they depict. The purposive sampling is used to collect data for this cross-sectional study from 720 university students in the generation Z age group studying in six universities in Punjab. The main inclusion criteria are choosing students who often shop online and are in the age bracket of 18-28. Findings showed that the more privacy concerns a person has the more careful he would be while doing online shopping. The relationship between privacy literacy and online shopping is a negative correlation which means that more the privacy literate a person is; the fewer online purchases they will make. This research stresses that people need to be more vigilant while sharing their information on online ecosystems. The findings of this study expand the theoretical understanding of the privacy paradox establishing two very opposite and non-aligned attitudes of shoppers. It also offers an opportunity for sales managers in the fashion industry to look at their digital models to reconsider privacy standards and also helps them investigate the dichotomy of behaviour.

Arooj Asim¹, Muhammad Imran^2* and Ayesha Ashfaq³

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