Communications Privacy Management Theory

Communications Privacy Management Theory

Assumes:

• People have a right to own thier private information

• Builds upon dialectical theory and social penetration theory

• Revealing information is risky/ vunerable

• People have a right to contriol their private information

• Boundaries occur across levels of people

• Permability of bounaries

Boundary Structure w in CPM

Who is allowed and who is not allowed access to information

Control Risks

• Individuals want to control their private information to reduce vulnerability.

• Sharing private information can expose them to risks like judgment, embarrassment, or exploitation.

• By managing access, they mitigate these risks.

Single Ownership of Information

• People feel they have a right to their own private information.

• This sense of ownership raises questions about where these rights originate—whether from personal values, culture, or societal norms.

Permeabilty of boundary

• The level of perceived risk affects how open a person is with their private information.

• Lower risk → More permeability: If a person believes sharing information will not lead to negative consequences, they are more likely to have open boundaries.

• Higher risk → Less permeability: If sharing information could lead to vulnerability or harm, the person will maintain stricter boundaries.

Rule management systems

• Decision rules to monitor flow of information

• 1.  Boundary access rules (i.e., rules about when information will be shared)

• 2.  Boundary protection rules (i.e., rules about when information will not be shared)

Privacy Rule Development

Development of these rules is based upon a number of criteria:

• 1.  Cultural values/norms

• 2.  Individual motivations or reasons

• 3.  Gender

• 4.  Context

• 5.  Generational differences—social media?

Rule acquisition

• How we come to understand rules

• Learn exsisting rules or have to negotiate new ones

• Learn through explicity or implicit norms in a family

Rule Properties

• Characteristics of the privacy rules

• Often become habitual

• Can change when event or action triggers change

Bondary Coordination

1. Linkages

   1. Internal linkages: Sharing private information within the family (e.g., telling a sibling about personal struggles).

   2. External linkages: Sharing private information outside the family (e.g., parents revealing financial difficulties to a school counselor).

2. Permiability

   1. Once private information is shared, its flow is regulated through different privacy mechanisms:

3. Co-ownership

   1. Once someone shares private information, co-ownership is established—both the original owner and the recipient now have responsibility over that information.

Boundary Turbulence

• complications in boundary coordination

--e.g., when one person decides not to follow the rules for privacy

How has CPM been tested

• Social media

• Health

• Family

Critiques of CPM

• Broad framework (also a strength)

  • Explanatory rather than predictive 

• Tested primarily qualitatively rather than quantitatively

• Emphasis is on individual privacy rights—is privacy always individually owned?

• Cultural differences?