The Effect of Displaying Privacy Information on The Arab Culture

As the online shopping trend is finally catching on in the Arab world, many of the young Arab entrepreneurs are investing their efforts in online ventures. The findings of this research will provide an insight into the decision making process of the Arab consumers. It investigates the effect of privacy information on the consumers’ decisions; are consumers willing to pay more for privacy? and whether the Arab culture plays a role in that process.

Throughout the literature, there has been shown a contradiction between reported attitudes and actual behaviors. Many factors contribute to create that contradiction, one of which is information asymmetry. This research investigates whether displaying the privacy information of websites bridges the asymmetry between the seller and the buyer, and results in informed decisions.

In this study, we assume that participants are honest in their responses, notice all the information provided before making their decision, and have a sense for privacy. In addition, we assume that when a consumer is offered identical alternatives to buy from, they would purchase the cheapest because there is no motivation for paying more.

Although we recognize that self reported behaviors are not actual behaviors, we were limited in that regard. Since the participants were asked to purchase culturally sensitive items, getting those items delivered to Qatar and to the participants would interfere with the participant’s answers. Most students share their mailing address with their parents and families, and receiving sensitive items would make the participants uncomfortable and therefore bias their answers to the study.