Affiliations 

  • 1 Sunway University
  • 2 Berjaya University College
MyJurnal

Abstract

With the increase of consumers’ privacy concerns and the government-enforced regulations on data protection, it is necessary for organizations to implement Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) to protect consumers’ personal data. PETs refer to any protection in the form of technology. Since employees are the main stakeholders who are directly involved in the PETs implementation and execution process, it is important to understand employees’ perceptions especially those daily tasks involving the process of collecting and processing consumers’ data. Prior literature showed limited research on the effects of PETs implementation through employees’ work process and their perception on the implementation in protection personal data. Hence, the purpose of this research is to explore how PETs adoption affects employees’ work process and their perception. A qualitative single case study was adopted in a telecommunications company in Malaysia. Data were collected through in-depth interviews from nine respondents who were involved in data collecting, data processing and data controlling in their daily tasks. The results showed that employees experience difference levels of change depending on their work nature. The affected areas of change in implementing PETs are workload, communication level and data access. Employees also raised their concerns on vendors’ accountability. This research provides an insight into employees’ perception towards personal data protection based on their experience in implementing PETs. Continuous awareness, updates, monitoring and evaluating of system are perceived as the key to successful PETs implementation in protecting personal data.