Consequences of illegitimacy perceptions: understanding Internet users’ resistance to firms’ information requests

Purpose In the digital economy, value creation hinges critically on users’ voluntary compliance with corporate data acquisition initiatives. Nevertheless, it is reported that a significant number of users tend to adopt a defensive stance and resist these requests. Efficient coping endeavors of firms must be established on the basis of a systematic understanding of such user resistance, which remains under-explored. Accordingly, in this paper, we establish a theoretical model to provide an in-depth understanding of the diverse resistant behaviors exhibited by Internet users, adopting an integrative perspective grounded in relational contract appraisals. Design/methodology/approach We self-develop two theoretical constructs, namely perceived request excessiveness and perceived option restrictiveness, to characterize Internet users’ perceptions of the illegitimacy of firms’ information requests. From the integrative perspective of relational contract appraisals, specifically privacy contract concerns and psychological contract violations, we investigate the impacts of these constructs on users’ representative resistant behaviors, such as refusal, switching and complaining. To test the model, we conducted a scenario-based online experiment (N = 633) and analyzed the data using structural equation modeling. Findings The empirical results yielded two major findings. First, users’ perceptions of request excessiveness and option restrictiveness collectively impact their appraisals of relational contracts. Meanwhile, the perception of option restrictiveness can also exert a negative moderating effect. Second, Internet users’ psychological contract violations and privacy contract concerns further shape their resistant behaviors, where the two dominate defending and complaining behaviors, respectively, and the latter can also play a mediating role. Originality/value The originality of this work is threefold. First, we self-develop two constructs to characterize online users’ typical illegitimacy perceptions of firms’ information requests and systematically examine their functional roles. Second, we propose and examine the novel lens of relational contract appraisals to better understand users’ resistant responses. Third, we discuss a wide range of privacy-related defending and complaining behaviors and reveal their differential predominant mechanisms. Overall, our research lays the foundation for future work that aims to promote the harmonious use of user information.