Along with recent advancement of web technologies, social networking sites (SNSs) affect peoples lifestyles by enabling them to perform so many activities which were not easy to do before. However, protection of users' disclosed information becomes an important challenge not only for SNS users but also for governing organizations. This study focuses on SNS users' protection from privacy breaches that are made by or facilitated by SNS vendors and explores the effectiveness of privacy assurance mechanisms on SNS users' privacy preserving actions. This study proposes a conceptual model that explains SNS users' privacy protection behavior based on protection motivation theory. An empirical data was collected to validate the proposed research model. The results suggest that users' coping appraisals of the overall SNS assurance mechanisms, along with their threat appraisals, positively relate to their protection motivation. Further, the results confirm that privacy concern mediates the relationship between threat appraisals and coping appraisals. Finally, findings suggest that protective motivation discourages one's engagement in risky behavior (disclosing self on SNS), in addition to undertaking safeguards (customizing privacy settings). Meanwhile, we find that individuals' use of safeguards increases personal engagement in risky behaviors (self-disclosure).

随着Web技术的最新发展，社交网站（SNS）通过使人们能够执行以前不容易完成的许多活动来影响人们的生活方式。但是，保护用户的公开信息不仅对SNS用户而且对于管理组织都成为一项重要的挑战。这项研究的重点是SNS用户免受SNS供应商制造或促进的隐私泄露的保护，并探讨了隐私保证机制对SNS用户隐私保护行为的有效性。本研究提出了一种基于保护动机理论的SNS用户隐私保护行为概念模型。收集了经验数据以验证所提出的研究模型。结果表明，用户的 总体SNS保证机制的应对评估以及它们的威胁评估与它们的保护动机成正比。此外，结果证实，隐私问题是威胁评估与应对评估之间的中介。最后，研究结果表明，保护性动机除了采取保护措施（自定义隐私设置）外，还会阻止人们从事危险行为（在SNS上公开自己）。同时，我们发现个人使用保障措施会增加个人对危险行为（自我披露）的参与。研究结果表明，保护动机除了采取保障措施（自定义隐私设置）外，还会阻止人们从事危险行为（在SNS上公开自己）。同时，我们发现个人使用保障措施会增加个人对危险行为（自我披露）的参与。研究结果表明，保护动机除了采取保障措施（自定义隐私设置）外，还会阻止人们从事危险行为（在SNS上公开自己）。同时，我们发现个人使用保障措施会增加个人对危险行为（自我披露）的参与。