Paths to social licence for tracking-data analytics in university research and services

PLoS One. 2021 May 21;16(5):e0251964. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0251964. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

While tracking-data analytics can be a goldmine for institutions and companies, the inherent privacy concerns also form a legal, ethical and social minefield. We present a study that seeks to understand the extent and circumstances under which tracking-data analytics is undertaken with social licence-that is, with broad community acceptance beyond formal compliance with legal requirements. Taking a University campus environment as a case, we enquire about the social licence for Wi-Fi-based tracking-data analytics. Staff and student participants answered a questionnaire presenting hypothetical scenarios involving Wi-Fi tracking for university research and services. Our results present a Bayesian logistic mixed-effects regression of acceptability judgements as a function of participant ratings on 11 privacy dimensions. Results show widespread acceptance of tracking-data analytics on campus and suggest that trust, individual benefit, data sensitivity, risk of harm and institutional respect for privacy are the most predictive factors determining this acceptance judgement.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Australia
  • Bayes Theorem
  • Confidentiality / psychology*
  • Data Collection / ethics*
  • Data Mining / ethics*
  • Electronic Data Processing / ethics*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Licensure
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Privacy / psychology*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • Trust / psychology*
  • Universities

Grants and funding

This research is part of the LUMAS project, funded by the Networked Society Institute at the University of Melbourne (https://research.unimelb.edu.au/research-at-melbourne/multidisciplinary-research/melbourne-interdisciplinary-research-institutes/former-melbourne-interdisciplinary-research-institutes/networked-society-institute). Funding was awarded to S.W and S.D. The funders did not play any role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.