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Being observed in the digital era: Conceptualization and scale development of the perception of being observed
Author(s) -
Lefkeli Deniz,
Tulan Dilan,
GürhanCanli Zeynep
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
psychology and marketing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.035
H-Index - 116
eISSN - 1520-6793
pISSN - 0742-6046
DOI - 10.1002/mar.21713
Subject(s) - conceptualization , perception , nomological network , psychology , scale (ratio) , discriminant validity , consciousness , social psychology , cognitive psychology , anxiety , psychometrics , developmental psychology , artificial intelligence , cartography , computer science , neuroscience , internal consistency , geography , psychiatry
This research details the development of the perception of being observed scale. Consumers may think that their actions are being observed (i.e., seen, watched, recorded, tracked) by other parties (i.e., companies, governments, people) regardless of the actual knowledge about the existence of it. We develop a 10‐item, uni‐dimensional perception of being observed scale. Following the assessments of the scale, we conduct a series of studies to test the scale's convergent, discriminant, nomological, and predictive validity. We show that technology anxiety, self‐consciousness and privacy concerns predict the perception of being observed. Further, people who experience the perception of being observed are more conservative in information disclosure.