Explaining the intention to use digital personal data stores: An empirical study

Recent data leaks such as those involving Dropbox have apparently made Internet users feel less secure than in the past as they face risks when dealing with their digital personal data. However, consumers have increasingly embraced cloud computing empowered Digital Personal Data Stores (DPDSs). To understand this paradox, this study shifts the unit of analysis of DPDSs acceptance from organizations to individuals/consumers and identifies the drivers of adoption of DPDSs (beyond broadly defined cloud computing services). Moreover, it proposes, develops and tests empirically a comprehensive extended version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in the context of DPDSs, leveraging perceived privacy risks and trust. Using a panel of UK consumers, we find that perceived trust positively influences both usefulness and ease of use. These constructs, in turn, positively affect attitude towards using DPDSs, which ultimately increases the intention to use DPDSs. Privacy risk does not moderate any of the investigated relationships, thus suggesting that trust is a key underlying mechanism enhancing the acceptance of DPDS. Hence, theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.