In Our Employer We Trust: Mental Models of Office Workers’ Privacy Perceptions

Exploring mental models of the right to informational self-determination of office workers in Germany

Proceedings on Privacy Enhancing Technologies ◽

10.2478/popets-2021-0035 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (3) ◽

pp. 5-27

Author(s):

Jan Tolsdorf ◽

Florian Dehling ◽

Delphine Reinhardt ◽

Luigi Lo Iacono

Keyword(s):

Mental Models ◽

Data Flow ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Private Life ◽

Self Determination ◽

Office Workers ◽

Privacy Rights ◽

Right To Privacy ◽

General Data Protection Regulation ◽

The Right

Abstract Applied privacy research has so far focused mainly on consumer relations in private life. Privacy in the context of employment relationships is less well studied, although it is subject to the same legal privacy framework in Europe. The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has strengthened employees’ right to privacy by obliging that employers provide transparency and intervention mechanisms. For such mechanisms to be effective, employees must have a sound understanding of their functions and value. We explored possible boundaries by conducting a semi-structured interview study with 27 office workers in Germany and elicited mental models of the right to informational self-determination, which is the European proxy for the right to privacy. We provide insights into (1) perceptions of different categories of data, (2) familiarity with the legal framework regarding expectations for privacy controls, and (3) awareness of data processing, data flow, safeguards, and threat models. We found that legal terms often used in privacy policies used to describe categories of data are misleading. We further identified three groups of mental models that differ in their privacy control requirements and willingness to accept restrictions on their privacy rights. We also found ignorance about actual data flow, processing, and safeguard implementation. Participants’ mindsets were shaped by their faith in organizational and technical measures to protect privacy. Employers and developers may benefit from our contributions by understanding the types of privacy controls desired by office workers and the challenges to be considered when conceptualizing and designing usable privacy protections in the workplace.

Download Full-text

Abstract #807052: Prediabetes and Diabetes Mellitus in Office Workers Having Risk Factors For Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Endocrine Practice ◽

10.1016/s1530-891x(20)39798-6 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 26 ◽

pp. 140-141

Author(s):

Johanes Purwoto

Keyword(s):

Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Risk Factors ◽

Type 2 Diabetes ◽

Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus ◽

Office Workers

Download Full-text

Acquisition and Use of Mental Operators: Effects of Type of Practice

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027//1618-3169.49.2.141 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 49 (2) ◽

pp. 141-152 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Burkhard Müller ◽

Jürgen Gehrke

Keyword(s):

Mental Models ◽

Test Performance ◽

Physical World ◽

Test Phase ◽

Acquisition Phase ◽

Practice Test ◽

Subsequent Test ◽

Use Of Knowledge

Abstract. Planning interactions with the physical world requires knowledge about operations; in short, mental operators. Abstractness of content and directionality of access are two important properties to characterize the representational units of this kind of knowledge. Combining these properties allows four classes of knowledge units to be distinguished that can be found in the literature: (a) rules, (b) mental models or schemata, (c) instances, and (d) episodes or chunks. The influence of practicing alphabet-arithmetic operators in a prognostic, diagnostic, or retrognostic way (A + 2 = ?, A? = C, or ? + 2 = C, respectively) on the use of that knowledge in a subsequent test was used to assess the importance of these dimensions. At the beginning, the retrognostic use of knowledge was worse than the prognostic use, although identical operations were involved (A + 2 = ? vs. ? - 2 = A). This disadvantage was reduced with increased practice. Test performance was best if the task and the letter pairs were the same as in the acquisition phase. Overall, the findings support theories proposing multiple representational units of mental operators. The disadvantage for the retrognosis task was recovered in the test phase, and may be evidence for the importance of the order of events independent of the order of experience.

Download Full-text