Mobile application security: Role of perceived privacy as the predictor of security perceptions

•Privacy-related perceptions affect security perception of the users.•Perceived privacy risk negatively influences perceived security of mobile apps.•Perceived effectiveness of privacy policy positively influences mobile apps security.•Privacy awareness moderates the effect of privacy risk on mobile app security.•Information sensitivity of apps affect the relationship between privacy constructs. Despite mobile applications being at the frontier of mobile computation technologies, security issues pose a threat to their adoption and diffusion. Recent studies suggest that security violations could be mitigated through improved security behaviors and attitudes, not just through better technologies. Existing literature on behavioral security suggests that one of the main predictors of users’ perceptions of security is their perceived privacy concerns. Using communication privacy management theory (CPM), this study examines the effects of privacy-related perceptions, such as privacy risk and the effectiveness of privacy policies, on the security perceptions of mobile app users. To empirically test the proposed theoretical model, two survey studies were conducted using mobile apps requesting less sensitive information (n = 487) and more sensitive information (n = 559). The findings show that the perceived privacy risk negatively influences the perceived security of the mobile apps; the perceived effectiveness of a privacy policy positively influences user perceptions of mobile app security; and perceived privacy awareness moderates the effect of perceived privacy risk on the perceived security of mobile apps. The results also suggest that users have different privacy-security perceptions based on the information sensitivity of the mobile apps. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.