Abstract:

The rapid growth of the Internet has multiplied the number of users from all parts of the world as well as intensified the issue of privacy. Yet the ways in which information privacy and values affect a user's willingness to disclose and share knowledge with others remain unclear. Furthermore, very limited number of studies has addressed the privacy concerns surrounding knowledge sharing.  Inherently, users may face a conflicting aspect of the situation—such as intense concerns for privacy competing with convenient ways of sharing knowledge over social networking sites (SNSs). With such gaps in the literature, we will explore the effect of information privacy concerns on knowledge sharing specifically among Middle East and North Africa (MENA) users in social networking site (SNS) activities. The overarching research question is, “In what ways do privacy values and concerns induce or deter knowledge sharing behaviors in SNS?"