Ethics-Based Privacy Protection: Reaching Out to Enhance Trust

Information Privacy is an important information management issue that continues to challenge organisations. It has become a pervasive issue in both private and public sector organisations and is of growing concern to multiple... [ view full abstract ]

Information Privacy is an important information management issue that continues to challenge organisations. It has become a pervasive issue in both private and public sector organisations and is of growing concern to multiple stakeholders including governments, regulators, employees and consumers. Information Privacy incidents are increasing in magnitude and frequency, and as this trend continues, organisations face a balancing act between providing appropriate privacy protections in the midst of changing regulations, while embracing technological innovations. Beyond the financial penalties, these incidents impact an organisation’s reputation, damaging consumer and employee trust. This paper seeks to theoretically explore if organisations whose privacy protection approach is driven by justice-based-values experience reduced privacy incidents and increased trust when compared with organisations whose privacy protection approach is driven by controls-based-values.