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D11.3: Economic aspects of mobility and identity
Today, individuals have the possibility to interact with other people using mobile communications. To this regard, the communication between individuals and organisational bodies (cf. Chapter ) is independent from determinants such as time and location. As mentioned before, information is the focal point, as it is provided in a non-static but interactive and real-time way, integrating the contextual aspects into the communication and the provision of mobile applications and services.
While an effective use of the provided data offers a higher convenience from services tailored towards the needs of users, this also can result into issues with regard to the privacy and security aspects. Consequently, the balance between convenience of service provision and security/privacy becomes an aspect to be investigated.
To this regard, the price of convenience (PoC) model was developed by Kruelle in 2002 and is based on the previously described DoI framework by Rogers. The PoC model itself extends DoI, as there was a considered lack in the universal validity and incapability to capture the entire complexity of mobile technologies. To this regard, PoC can be regarded a heuristic, socio-technical tool to better understand the mechanisms customers use to trade convenience for privacy.
The “price” is thereby not to be understood as an economic value, but as a metaphor. The model analyses the users’ willingness to trade their privacy for convenience when using mobile applications. For the cluster of MIdM, this model can help to understand how these technologies can influence the usage of mobile services in general. Also links to relevant laws and regulation in general could be analysed, as consent and a need for privacy seem to be important.
Figure : Conceptual framework of the “Price of Convenience” (PoC) Model
As the development of innovations passes through several stages, the main influence of the PoC model can be found in the implementation and adoption phases (cf. Chapter ). This separation allows the investigation of the behaviour of innovations and their development. By following this approach it is possible to identify the necessary measures to maximise the convenience. The PoC model is visualised in and can be further divided into the system aspects (society, government, industry, company and media) and the subjective aspects (PoC, attitudes, behaviours, and service uptake).
The decision, whether a service is adopted or not by an individual user is influenced by the individual’s value towards the gained convenience and the loss of privacy resulting from a service. The derivation of the PoC is thereby significantly influenced by five discrete factors recognising a diverse environment and supports both, socio-economic and technical perspectives. Namely these are: society, government, industry, companies (primary effects) and media (secondary effect), representing the system aspects:
Society: For the PoC, society can be understood as a pluralistic concept in which law and order can be considered a negotiated result of different interest groups. Society is considered the strongest of the five factors
Government: The government is considered as a monitoring entity with respect to the social security. Special emphasis is placed on the government’s consideration of the protection of the individual rights’ versus the collective safety.
Industry: The word industry includes multiple companies offering similar products and targeting the same potential customers. Industry is credited with the capability to develop and implement standards and guidelines.
Companies: The aspect “companies” includes developers of mobile services, technology developers, and content aggregators. From the understanding of the model, mobile service developers should especially focus on the heterogeneity of the end device in the development process, as compatibility is an important requirement.
Media: Media are brought into the PoC model as a secondary effect, complementing the other four effects. They describe an intra-institutional setting that has a great importance for the understanding of the individual PoC as a result of influence on the privacy. Media impact is often critical for the successful adoption of a new service or product (cp. Chapter ). Developers and mobile network operators should therefore actively approach the media to be able to influence the perception of new services.
The five presented factors influence the actual PoC, showing various interdependencies among each other. The inner attitude with regard to the adoption of a mobile application or service and the behaviour of the adopting individual are influenced by the dynamic contexts between the players in the system. As a result, the user can finally decide whether to contract, to initiate, or to discontinue a service (cf. ).
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