New Study Reveals Desperately Needed Solutions to Privacy Issues for Facebook, Consumers

GREENSBORO, N.C., January 3, 2019 (Newswire.com) - A new study from a professor in the Bryan School of Business and Economics identifies innovative identity management dimensions for social media companies, consumers, and even policymakers. Recently published in Decision Sciences’ Fall 2018 edition ("The Identity Management Value Model: A Design Science Approach to assess Value Gaps in Social Media") this paper exposes an assessment mechanism for companies such as Facebook to know how well they are performing along dimensions’ consumers care about. For instance, his research found the discovered value gaps for Facebook in the following areas:

·         Maximize control = 41%

·         Social media ethics = 40%

·         Ensuring identity does not change = 39%

·         User control of their impression = 33%

·         User ability to define online identity = 29%

Overall value gap for Facebook was 36%

Dr. Gurpreet Dhillon, Professor and Head of the Department of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management at the Bryan School of Business at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, co-authored the paper on identity management and social media.

He believes that for Facebook, and other social media organizations, to be responsive to consumers, their leaders need to focus on the value gaps and build their internal strategies to address each one of these five issues.

While social media companies and consumers are most certainly interested in improving identity management, the findings in Dr. Dhillon’s paper are useful to policymakers as well. His findings help improve identity management rather than having a negative impact, and how they provide a strategy for companies and consumers to perform better.

“Whenever there is a social media identity breach, lawmakers and authorities typically reprimand and begin penalizing companies. The strategic response of these companies should center around the five issues identified in our research. This issue of identity management isn’t Facebook’s problem or the consumer’s problem; it’s everybody’s problem. Findings of our study help in ensuring that the social media companies are mindful of the value gaps and take remedial measures and also that consumers are aware of the critical identity management factors such that they can home in on the most critical aspects that concern them.”

Dr. Dhillon has been a security researcher since 1992. His work focuses on the socio-technicality of protecting security and identity. He has used the method to identify these findings to study other problematic areas, e.g., cyberstalking, virtual assault. Dr. Dhillon is also an author of more than a dozen books published by MacMillan, Wiley, Prospect, and Springer, among others.

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About the Bryan School of Business & Economics at UNCG

The Bryan School of Business and Economics at UNC Greensboro is one of the largest business schools in North Carolina, offering six undergraduate programs, six graduate programs, and four Ph.D. programs. The Bryan School holds dual accreditation in business and accounting from AACSB – a distinction held by only 1% of business schools in the world. The Bryan School produces the principled leaders and exceptional problem solvers that communities and organizations need. Learn more at bryan.uncg.edu.

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UNC Greensboro, located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina, is 1 of only 50 doctoral institutions recognized by the Carnegie Foundation for both higher research activity and community engagement. Founded in 1891 and one of the original three UNC system institutions, UNC Greensboro is one of the most diverse universities in the state with 20,000+ students, and 2,700+ faculty and staff members representing 90+ nationalities. With 17 Division I athletic teams, 85 undergraduate degrees in over 125 areas of study, as well as 74 master’s and 32 doctoral programs, UNC Greensboro is consistently recognized nationally among the top universities for academic excellence and value, with noted strengths in health and wellness, visual and performing arts, nursing, education, and more. For additional information, please visit uncg.edu and follow UNCG on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Media Contact:
Casey Fletcher
Bryan School of Business & Economics
336.256.0276 or [email protected]

Source: Bryan School of Business and Economics