Individualism and Digital State Surveillance: Quantitatively exploring the relationship between individualist orientation and attitudes towards digital state surveillance.

The main aim of this study was to explore the relationship between individualism and attitudes towards digital state surveillance, through the framework of an individualism-collectivism dichotomy. More specifically, the ways in which privacy concerns and trust in national government influence this relationship were laid out. The sample consisted of 80 Dutch voting-age citizens. The study was conducted using an online survey and analyses included correlation- and moderation analyses. Results showed a positive correlation between individualism and negative surveillance attitudes, a negative correlation between collectivism and negative surveillance attitudes, and no correlation between individualism and collectivism. Privacy concerns were found to be a strong factor in determining negative surveillance attitudes among participants with high individualism-scores. Trust in national government had no moderating effect on the relationship between individualism and negative surveillance attitudes, although this result may have been influenced by poor methodology. Individualism and collectivism may not be part of the same dichotomy, as collectivist and individualist attitudes can be held concurrently. Individualism poses a significant challenge for the surveillance state, on a personal level and perhaps on a societal level, although the latter is not expanded upon in this study. Addressing privacy concerns may help policy makers overcome this challenge. Further research is needed to explore the relationship between individualism and digital state surveillance, and limitations of the current study can be overcome in future research.