Paper Type
Complete
Abstract
The study of data protection, especially in light of recent privacy regulations, often focuses on large-sized organizations that process immense amounts of personal data on a regular basis. Although these enterprises present a logical first step for investigating the status quo of privacy compliance practices, the realm of medium-, small-, and micro-sized businesses has largely been ignored in recent literature. In particular, the main drivers and hindrances remain undiscovered, making it unclear how and to what extent privacy is a core value in smaller organizations. In this work, we aim to address this gap by focusing only on small-sized e-commerce organizations, looking to uncover their perspectives on privacy compliance. Starting with a literature review to establish a foundation, we then interview eight members of small-sized e-commerce businesses. We shed light on the unique perspectives offered by our interviewees, taking the form of challenges and disincentives, as well as success factors.
Paper Number
2068
Recommended Citation
Klymenko, Alexandra; Meisenbacher, Stephen; Jahr, Maximilian; and Matthes, Florian, "Privacy Compliance in Small-sized Enterprises: An Investigation in the German E-commerce Sector" (2025). AMCIS 2025 Proceedings. 5.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2025/sig_sec/sig_sec/5
Privacy Compliance in Small-sized Enterprises: An Investigation in the German E-commerce Sector
The study of data protection, especially in light of recent privacy regulations, often focuses on large-sized organizations that process immense amounts of personal data on a regular basis. Although these enterprises present a logical first step for investigating the status quo of privacy compliance practices, the realm of medium-, small-, and micro-sized businesses has largely been ignored in recent literature. In particular, the main drivers and hindrances remain undiscovered, making it unclear how and to what extent privacy is a core value in smaller organizations. In this work, we aim to address this gap by focusing only on small-sized e-commerce organizations, looking to uncover their perspectives on privacy compliance. Starting with a literature review to establish a foundation, we then interview eight members of small-sized e-commerce businesses. We shed light on the unique perspectives offered by our interviewees, taking the form of challenges and disincentives, as well as success factors.
When commenting on articles, please be friendly, welcoming, respectful and abide by the AIS eLibrary Discussion Thread Code of Conduct posted here.
Comments
SIGSEC