Perceived knowledge and practice in personal data handling

Abstract

The banking industry is one of the most active industries in collecting vast amounts of personal data daily. Advancements in information and communication technology have directly made the process of personal data handling, which encompasses the processes of collection, usage, storage and dissemination of personal data, to become a lot easier. These developments, however, posed new threats to the individual’s liberty and information privacy in case of a data breach or data abuse. This study is conducted to gain further understanding of the situation by investigating the current practices used by banks while dealing with customers’ personal data and also examines the level of perceived knowledge among bank personnel and customers regarding personal data handling. An individual with good perceived knowledge is believed to exercise the best practices to secure the data from unwanted threats. Moreover, this study observes whether good perceived knowledge has effects on practice, specifically in personal data handling. This study adopts a quantitative approach, in which primary data were collected through a survey method. The respondents are divided into two groups; with a total number of 228 and 263 bank personnel and bank customers, respectively. This study utilises the Rasch Measurement Model for research instrument validation and SEM AMOS version 22 for data analysis. The findings indicate that the Malaysian bank current practices comprise all seven data protection principles as stipulated under PDPA 2010; attesting that the institutions fulfil the regulations. Bank personnel were found to have good perceived knowledge in personal data handling as compared to bank customers who are not meeting the level of good perceived knowledge scale. These findings justify the increasing number of cases in data abused recently. The result of the findings also verifies the significant effects of perceived knowledge towards practice in personal data handling, as noted in both groups of respondents. Two models of personal data handling have been established as the outcome of this study. They are the ‘Personal Data Handing Model for Bank Personnel’ and the ‘Personal Data Handling Model for Bank Customers’. The present study is useful as it highlights the efforts made by the banking industry to protect customers’ personal data. The results of this study contribute to the improvement and implementation of the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) requirements within the banking industry.