New Strategies for Employment? Internet Skills and Online Privacy Practices During People's Job Search.

Authors: Eszter Hargittai and Eden Litt

Download: Pre-print PDF (274 KB)

Citation: Hargittai, E. & Litt, E. (2013). New Strategies for Employment? Internet Skills and Online Privacy Practices during People's Job Search. IEEE Security & Privacy. 11(3):38-45.

Abstract

How does online know-how relate to people's tendency to manage the privacy of their social network site profiles? This paper draws on unique survey data about a diverse group of young adults, their online skills and their online privacy practices to examine patterns of online privacy management in the context of concerns about employers searching for information about potential employees. Findings suggest that women, Whites and those with higher Internet privacy skills are more likely to manage their online profiles actively.

Outline

  • Demographic Background and Privacy Management
  • Internet Skills and Privacy Management
  • Data and Methods
    • Data Collection
    • Measurement
    • The Sample
  • Results
  • Discussion

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Robert and Kaye Hiatt Fund of Northwestern University and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for their support. We also thank Jenna Lebersfeld for her help with project management as well as Rebecca Schieber, Madison Ginsberg, Andrea Carney, and Veronica Nieves for their help with data entry and Madison Berry, Jenn Suh, and Kristin Kim for help with project logistics. We appreciate input from Erin Klawitter about the survey instrument and from Peter Miller about survey logistics.

Note: You may not post a copy of the article pdf on any Web sites or distribute it on any mailing lists. You can point people to its online location here: http://www.webuse.org/p/a45.


If you would like to copy, distribute or reprint this paper “for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research” (see Title 17, US Copyright Code) then please contact the publisher to secure permission.