Exploring privacy protection behavior: the roles of privacy protection motivation and privacy fatigue

In the data-driven era, excessive collection of personal information by internet companies has become a prevalent issue, leading to significant concerns among online users. This privacy concern often stimulate individuals’ motivation to safeguard their privacy, driving them to engage in privacy protection behaviors. However, the increasing complexity of privacy management have given rise to a growing sense of indifference toward privacy issues, a phenomenon known as privacy fatigue. The purpose of this study was to explore how threat appraisal and coping appraisal influence privacy protection behavior through mediating effects of privacy protection motivation and privacy fatigue, within the framework of Coping Theory (CT) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT).