• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information Security & Cryptology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.1619-1637
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• 2016

With wide distribution of smart phones and development of mobile network, social network service (SNS) is displaying remarkable growth rates. Users build new social relations by sharing their interests, which brings surging growth to the SNS based on the combination between the strength of expanding the place for communication and distribution of smart phones featured with easy portability. This study is designed to understand impact factors of SNS on users in Korea and to conduct empirical research on casual relationship between the factors above and the factors affecting personal information behavior through the privacy protection and self-efficacy. In order to accomplish the objective above, the study presented a research model applied with key variables of the Health Belief Model (HBM) predicting behaviors capable of recognizing and preventing individual diseases in the field of health communication. To perform empirical verification on the research model of this study, a survey was conducted upon college students at N university located in Chungcheongnam-do and K university in rural area, who have experiences using the SNS. Through this survey, a total of 186 samples were collected, and path analysis was performed in order to analyze the relationship between the factors. Based on the findings from the survey, first, variables Perceived probability, Perceived severity, Perceived impairment of the HBM, key factors of personal information protection behavior on the SNS, were found to exhibit negative relationship with self-efficacy, and Perceived probability, Perceived benefit, Perceived impairment were found to exhibit negative relationship with privacy protection. But the above, Perceived severity showed positive relationship with privacy protection, and Perceived benefit and self-efficacy also displayed positive relationship. Second, although self-efficacy, a parameter, showed positive relationship with privacy protection, it demonstrated negative relationship with personal information protection behavior. Lastly, privacy protection exhibited positive relationship with personal information protection behavior. By presenting theoretical model reflected with characteristics of prevention based on these findings above unlike previous studies on personal information protection using technologies threatening personal information, this study is to provide theoretical and operational foundation capable of offering explanations how to predict personal information protection behavior on the SNS in the future.