Integrating Data Vulnerability and Privacy Invasions with Negative Word-of-Mouth: The Mediating Effect of Consumer Privacy Concerns.

Basfar, Tahani Ahmed (2025) Integrating Data Vulnerability and Privacy Invasions with Negative Word-of-Mouth: The Mediating Effect of Consumer Privacy Concerns. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Amid growing public concerns about data misuse and privacy breaches, this study investigates how consumers’ perceptions of privacy-related factors shape their emotional and negative behavioural reactions within online shopping contexts. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, Social Contract Theory, and Regulatory Focus Theory, the research develops a conceptual model explaining how perceived data vulnerability (perceived data access vulnerability and perceived data tracking) and privacy invasion (perceived privacy experience and perceived data breach severity) influence privacy concerns, which subsequently generate emotional violation and negative word-of-mouth (NWOM). Privacy empowerment is examined as a moderating factor that alters these relationships.

Data were collected from 480 online shoppers in the United Kingdom through a structured questionnaire administered via Prolific and analysed using SmartPLS 4 (PLS-SEM). The results reveal that perceived data access vulnerability, perceived data tracking, and perceived prior privacy experience significantly increase privacy concern, whereas perceived data breach severity does not. Privacy concern strongly predicts emotional violation, which in turn drives NWOM. Privacy concern mediates the relationships between most privacy-related factors and NWOM, except for data breach severity. Emotional violation further mediates the link between privacy concern and NWOM, highlighting the emotional pathway underlying negative consumer reactions. Privacy empowerment moderates the impact of perceived data access vulnerability and privacy experience by amplifying privacy concerns, no moderation effect emerges for data tracking and data breach severity. These findings extend privacy and consumer-behaviour literature by integrating cognitive and emotional mechanisms. The study underscores the role of privacy empowerment, as amplifying mechanism. The implications of these findings are discussed for privacy theories and practices.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
Depositing User:	Chris White
Date Deposited:	09 Mar 2026 10:34
Last Modified:	09 Mar 2026 10:34
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102252
DOI:

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