Paper Number
ICIS2025-1243
Paper Type
Complete
Abstract
Privacy concerns are a central construct in the literature for capturing users’ attitudes toward privacy. During the last decades, technological advances have made it necessary to continuously adapt the conceptualization of privacy concerns. Previous privacy literature has (often implicitly) assumed that users’ real and virtual identities are highly similar. However, we propose that privacy concerns need to be adapted for contexts like the Metaverse, in which technologies enable a stark separation between real and virtual identities. In the Metaverse, where users interact as embodied avatars, the privacy-related entities not only include users’ real but also their (multiple) virtual identities. Through an inductive approach based on interview data with Metaverse users, we develop a conceptualization of privacy concerns, offering new types and dimensions related to users’ real and virtual identities and their interrelation, integrating audience- and provider-related concerns. With this novel conceptual framework, we contribute to privacy and virtual identity literature.
Recommended Citation
Roider, Hanna and Widjaja, Thomas, "Privacy Concerns in the Metaverse Context: An Examination of Real and Virtual Identity" (2025). ICIS 2025 Proceedings. 1.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2025/cyb_security/cyb_security/1
Privacy Concerns in the Metaverse Context: An Examination of Real and Virtual Identity
Privacy concerns are a central construct in the literature for capturing users’ attitudes toward privacy. During the last decades, technological advances have made it necessary to continuously adapt the conceptualization of privacy concerns. Previous privacy literature has (often implicitly) assumed that users’ real and virtual identities are highly similar. However, we propose that privacy concerns need to be adapted for contexts like the Metaverse, in which technologies enable a stark separation between real and virtual identities. In the Metaverse, where users interact as embodied avatars, the privacy-related entities not only include users’ real but also their (multiple) virtual identities. Through an inductive approach based on interview data with Metaverse users, we develop a conceptualization of privacy concerns, offering new types and dimensions related to users’ real and virtual identities and their interrelation, integrating audience- and provider-related concerns. With this novel conceptual framework, we contribute to privacy and virtual identity literature.
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09-Cybersecurity