소비자의 정보프라이버시 우려와 개인정보 피해 심각성 인지가 간편결제 서비스 이용에 미치는 영향 - 개인정보 보호행동의 매개효과를 중심으로

Easy payment service has merits to reduce transaction costs, and with its simple and easy procedure for payment, consumers using easy payment service can enjoy improved convenience in the market. However, in order to use easy payment service, consumers are required to provide a wide spectrum of personal information including name and phone number, credit card number and expiration date, and IP information, etc. which may be shared with multiple parties who are involved in the provision of easy payment service to consumers. Numerous prior research has shown a negative relationship between personal information risk and use of easy payment service, and consumers’ concern on information privacy and information security is known as one of the important factors which hinders consumers’use of easy payment service. Based on reasoning that consumers’information privacy protection behavior may mitigate this negative relationship and contribute to spreading consumers’ use of easy payment service, this study examined the mediating effects of information privacy protection behavior on the relationship between use of easy payment service, and consumers’information privacy concern and perceived severity of private information damage. The sample of 3986 smart phone users from 2017 information protection individual survey conducted by Statistics Korea was used for the analysis. First, the effects of independent variables (consumers’information privacy concern and perceived severity of private information damage) on the mediation variable (information privacy protection behavior) were examined by applying multiple regression analysis. In the second stage, the effects of independent variables and mediation variable on the dependent variable (use of easy payment service) were examined by applying probit analysis, because use of easy payment service was measured in dichotomous scale which was coded as 1 if consumers used service, otherwise 0. To estimate and test the mediation effect, Hick & Tingley’s estimation method and bootstraping procedure were applied. The major results were as follows. First, perceived severity of private information damage, information privacy concern of unauthorized use of personal information, and that of sharing personal information with a third party without consent were positively associated with consumers’ privacy protection behavior. Second, information privacy protection behavior mediated the relationship between use of easy payment service, and consumers’information privacy concerns and perceived severity of private information damage. Third, perceived severity of private information damage and concerns on unauthorized use of personal data had a direct effect on the use of easy payment services, which suggested that use of easy payment services entailed information privacy concerns and threats. These findings suggest that enhancing information privacy protection behavior has a positive effect on spreading use of easy payment services, and therefore the related consumer education programs need to be developed and implemented. To relieve consumer’s information privacy concerns, the public policy needs to focus on fostering transparency of entrepreneur’s using personal information.