People in higher job positions are more likely to sacrifice privacy in the same of security, a new study finds.
Privacy and security are two sides of the same coin and it's sometimes very difficult to find a perfect balance of the two. In most cases, people tend to prioritized one over the other based on their personal choices or requirements. A new study published by Penn State researchers found that people in higher job positions are more likely to sacrifice privacy in the same of security.
"What may get lost in the decision-making process is that one can enhance security without the negative impact on privacy," said lead author Jens Grossklags, in a press statement. "It's more of a balance, not a tradeoff, to establish good practices and sensible rules on security without negatively impacting privacy."
For the study, researchers analyzed how people in leadership job positions evaluated security and privacy and how impulsive or patient they were in making decisions. They found that those who were randomly placed in charge of a project tended to become more concerned with security issues.
In another experiment, researchers asked the participants how long they would delay accepting a prize from a bank if the size of that prize would increase over time. Participants with low-status jobs were more impulsive in their decision making and were willing to sacrifice more than 35 percent of the reward in order to get it now rather than later. Contrarily, people with high-status jobs were willing to wait, a sign that indication they take longer time to make decisions, especially those related to privacy and security.
"Social status shapes how privacy and security issues are settled in the real world," said Grossklags. "Hopefully, by calling attention to these tendencies, decision makers can rebalance their priorities on security and privacy."
The current study was supported by the Experimental Social Science Laboratory.
