Investigating the Motivational Factors Influencing Managerial Decisions to Adopt Privacy-Enhancing Technologies

Recent years have shown an increase in fervor in the discussion surrounding data privacy, in an age where data processing has become ubiquitous. Concurrently, the regulatory response to such practices has been realized in the form of wide-reaching data protection regulations, most notably the General Data Protection Regulation in the EU. In the adoption of Privacy-Enhancing Technologies (PETs) as data protection measures, the role of managers represents a crucial point in the decision-making process. As such, we place the point of investigation at the managerial level to explore the motivating factors that influence decisions to adopt PETs. Following a literature review that reveals the applicability of Corporate Social Responsibility as a basis for privacy protection, semi-structured interviews with managers responsible for privacy-related decisions are conducted, uncovering 47 motivational factors falling under three categories of incentives. These factors are taxonomized, validated, and analyzed in the remainder of our work.