An Empirical Examination of the Concern for Information Privacy Construct in the New Zealand Context

Moore stated "since societies differ, the desire or need for privacy will vary historically, from one society to another and among different groups in the same society." This study uses confirmatory factor analysis on a random sample of 459 New Zealanders to further examine the structure of the recently developed Concern for Information Privacy (CFIP) construct in a post September 11 environment in a similar western society that has a different regulatory model with respect to protecting the privacy of personal information. Similar findings on CFIP's dimensions and its treatment as a second-order factor strengthen the findings of previous empirical tests of the CFIP instrument developed by Smith, et al. since the sample demographics and the time of data collection differ. In addition, theoretical relationships between CFIP, consumer knowledge of current policy, regulatory preferences, negative experiences with private and government organizations, and different situations under which information might be revealed were examined with the results showing some interesting differences. The New Zealand regulatory model is a middle ground between the strict directives of the European Union and the self-regulatory environment of the United States, making it an interesting context to study in the interest of contributing to balancing the needs of society, individuals and international trade with respect to privacy of personal information.