Evaluating the Effects of Digital Privacy Regulations on User Trust

TL;DR

The study investigates how digital privacy regulations shape user trust across the Netherlands, Ghana, and Malaysia. It adopts an exploratory, comparative case-study approach based on semi-structured interviews with privacy-law experts, IT educators, and consumers. It finds that GDPR’s stringency in the Netherlands is tempered by enforcement gaps, that Ghana’s Data Protection Act suffers from low public awareness and limited enforcement, and that Malaysia’s PDPA influences trust mainly through platform security practices rather than legal guarantees; awareness, enforcement capacity, and cultural context emerge as key determinants. The authors propose a five-subframework recommendation framework to guide policymakers, businesses, and citizens toward more effective privacy practices in the digital economy.

Abstract

In today's digital society, issues related to digital privacy have become increasingly important. Issues such as data breaches result in misuse of data, financial loss, and cyberbullying, which leads to less user trust in digital services. This research investigates the impact of digital privacy laws on user trust by comparing the regulations in the Netherlands, Ghana, and Malaysia. The study employs a comparative case study method, involving interviews with digital privacy law experts, IT educators, and consumers from each country. The main findings reveal that while the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the Netherlands is strict, its practical impact is limited by enforcement challenges. In Ghana, the Data Protection Act is underutilized due to low public awareness and insufficient enforcement, leading to reliance on personal protective measures. In Malaysia, trust in digital services is largely dependent on the security practices of individual platforms rather than the Personal Data Protection Act. The study highlights the importance of public awareness, effective enforcement, and cultural considerations in shaping the effectiveness of digital privacy laws. Based on these insights, a recommendation framework is proposed to enhance digital privacy practices, also aiming to provide valuable guidance for policymakers, businesses, and citizens in navigating the challenges of digitalization.

Figures (1)

• Figure 1: Recommendation framework broken down to its sub-frameworks and the components of those sub-frameworks. Green boxes represent sub-frameworks and yellow oval shaped figures represent the components.