The Influence of Self-Efficacy of College Students in Privacy Protection and Behavior in Social Networking Context

Abstract

In the era of mobile social media, users who show themselves on social platforms will face the risk of privacy breaches. Frequent data leaks and increasingly complex social media privacy protection terms intensify users’ privacy concerns, along with mandatory privacy exposure, contributing to privacy fatigue among users. This study examines the changes in privacy protection behavior among college students under the influences of privacy concerns and privacy fatigue from the perspective of self-efficacy in privacy protection. Data is collected through a questionnaire survey, and a structural equation model is established to provide insights into protecting user privacy. The results of this research indicate that college students’ internal self-efficacy in privacy protection has a negative impact on privacy fatigue. College students’ privacy concerns are significantly negatively correlated with their willingness to disclose information, while privacy fatigue is significantly positively correlated with their willingness to disclose information. Privacy fatigue among college students has a significant positive influence on both their disclosure intention and the behavior of disengaging from privacy protection.