Predicting Personal Information Management Systems Use

Abstract

Effective management of digital identities and personal data is essential in modern society. Personal information management systems (PIMS) empower people to control their digital identities and personal data. Using the reasoned action approach (RAA) developed by Fishbein and Ajzen (2010), I derived the RAA-Trust Model for PIMS Adoption and investigated factors that might influence U.S. adults’ intention to use PIMS. I also investigated the relationship between the intention to use a PIMS and the actual use of a PIMS. My findings suggested that positive trust, perceived behavioral control (PBC), subjective norms (SN), and behavioral attitude (ATT) may positively influence one’s intention to use a PIMS. Trust had the highest predictive value, followed by SN, PBC, and ATT. Individuals with high behavioral intention to use a PIMS had a statistically significant higher rate of actual PIMS use. A cohort analysis revealed that trust and the social media influencer factor were significant for the sample population and all 12 analyzed cohorts. Background factors such as prior experience with PIMS, age, household income, experience with protection steps, lost time, emotional distress, and reputation damage related to identity- and personal-data misuse appeared to have contributed to participants’ intention to use a PIMS. Certain PIMS features—password manager, identity and credentials management and data sharing utility, data-protection utilities, content authenticity and verified sender signals, and identity and personal data education— also appear to contribute to the intention to use a PIMS.