The Role of Trust and Perceived Risk in the Relationship between Privacy and Security Values, and Emotions towards Smart Home Devices

As using smart home devices has become increasingly popular despite coming with several risks concerning user privacy and security, this paper investigates the influence of personal security and privacy values on emotions towards smart home devices considering the role of trust and perceived risk. To do this, an online experiment was conducted, first having participants indicate their values, then asking them to imagine a situation in which an Amazon Echo smart speaker was just installed in their home, after which they reported their emotions regarding the respective situation along with their assessment of perceived risk and trust. It was found that privacy but not security values influence emotions towards smart home devices and that this relationship is moderated by trust but not perceived risk. However, perceived risk was found to have a strong correlation with emotions towards smart home devices. These findings highlight the importance of considering the privacy values of users when first of designing smart devices, and in a second instance, policing them in a way that is protecting consumers’ privacy and security.