Do Privacy Concerns Affect Information Seeking via Smartphones?

Abstract

The innovation and evolution of technologies in smartphone industry has enabled users to efficiently achieve many tasks including utilizing search engines for instant information retrieval anytime and anywhere. Nonetheless, some users choose not to use these smartphone features including search engines to seek information. This study explores the factors that impact the likelihood of information seeking via smartphones. Privacy concern was found to be one of the main factors influencing the likelihood of seeking information. Android users were more likely to seek information compared to iPhone users, possibly due to the differences in the features of the operating systems of these phones. Motivation to seek information captured by technology ownership increases the likelihood of information seeking. The diversity of social network connections also plays a significant in information seeking behavior of the users.