Characteristics, factors, and outcomes of older internet users’ privacy management on the Internet : a scoping review

Bartol, Jošt (author), Petrovčič, Andraž (author)

Older internet users face significant challenges in ensuring their privacy on the internet. Despite several studies on this topic, a comprehensive overview of older users’ privacy management is still missing. Therefore, we conducted a preregistered scoping review to identify the characteristics, contexts, factors, and outcomes of older (65+) internet users’ privacy management on the internet as reported in the associated empirical literature. The protection motivation theory was used for organizing the review. Database and manual searches yielded 5,416 potential sources of evidence, of which 17 were found eligible. The results show that the literature is fragmented, drawing on a variety of theoretical frameworks, with a predominance of exploratory work. We synthesized the available evidence into a conceptual map of older users’ privacy management, outlining the focus and limitations of the reviewed literature. Based on this map, we highlight areas that require further research.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Internet, older adults, privacy, protection motivation theory, scoping review
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.02 - Review Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: In print
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: 19 str.
• Numbering: Vol. , no.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-184478
• UDC: 342.738:004.738.5-053.9
• ISSN on article: 1532-7590
• DOI: 10.1080/10447318.2026.2693603
• COBISS.SI-ID: 283927555
• Publication date in RUL: 08.07.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: International journal of human-computer interaction
• Shortened title: Int. j. hum.-comput. interact.
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 1532-7590
• COBISS.SI-ID: 521463833

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: uporabniki interneta, zasebnost, starostniki

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J5-60096
• Name: Upravljanje zasebnosti na internetu in digitalne neenakosti med starejšimi uporabniki interneta

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0399
• Name: Internetno raziskovanje