JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Despite the benefits the contact tracing program for COVID-19 prevention could provide to individuals and the community, privacy issues were a significant barrier to individuals’ acceptance of the contact tracing system.

Objective:

Building on existing literature on privacy calculus, the study investigates how perceptions of the two key groups (i.e., government and community members) involved in the digital contact tracing factor into one’s privacy calculus of digital contact tracing.

Methods:

Applying a mixed-method approach, we conducted a two-wave survey and in-depth interviews to understand the privacy calculus of using the contact tracing program in Singapore.

Results:

We found that trust in government enhanced perceived benefits while reducing privacy concerns, and perceived community enhanced perceived benefits. In addition, perceived community moderated the impact of government trust on perceived benefit. Post-in-depth interviews indicated that having a sense of control over their information is an important factor of the privacy calculus.

Conclusions:

Using a mixed-method approach involving a two-wave survey and in-depth interview data, we expanded our understanding of privacy decisions and calculus in the digital contact tracing context. The opposite influences of privacy concerns and perceived benefit on use intention suggest that the privacy calculus in TraceTogether might be viewed as a rational process of weighing between privacy risks and use benefits to make an uptake decision. However, our study demonstrated that their existing perceptions toward the provider, the government in the contact tracing context, as well as the perception of the community triggered by TraceTogether use, may bias user appraisals of privacy risks and benefits of contact tracing. Clinical Trial: NA