E-commerce and the Media - Influences on Security Risk Perceptions

Security is clearly a very important factor governing the size of the e-commerce market. E-commerce security concerns include payment confidentiality, payment integrity, and payment authorisation for Internet transactions. Currently, many potential e-commerce participants are reluctant to participate in Internet e-commerce because of these concerns, not least because many users perceive Internet shopping as the riskiest shopping method by comparison with other methods of payment. In this paper we consider the influence of the mass media, including television and newspapers, on e-commerce consumer perceptions. Given that cases of security breaches are often sensationalised by these media, we observe that the mass media may actually be unduly increasing e-consumer concerns, and thereby adversely affecting the e-commerce marketplace.