Communication privacy management theory

Communication privacy management (CPM), originally known as communication boundary management, is a systematic research theory designed to develop an evidence-based understanding of the way people make decisions about revealing and concealing private information. CPM theory suggests that individuals maintain and coordinate privacy boundaries (the limits of what they are willing to share) with various communication partners depending on the perceived benefits and costs of information disclosure. It was first developed by Sandra Petronio in 1991.

Petronio uses a boundary metaphor to explain the privacy management process. Privacy boundaries draw divisions between private information and public information. This theory argues that when people disclose private information, they depend on a rule-based management system to control the level of accessibility. An individual's privacy boundary governs his or her self-disclosures. Once a disclosure is made, the negotiation of privacy rules between the two parties is required. A distressing sense of "boundary turbulence" can arise when clashing expectations for privacy management are identified. Having the mental image of protective boundaries is central to understanding the five core principles of Petronio's CPM:

(1) People believe they own and have a right to control their private information. (2) People control their private information through the use of personal privacy rules. (3) When others are told or given access to a person's private information, they become co-owners of that information. (4) Co-owners of private information need to negotiate mutually agreeable privacy rules about telling others. (5) When co-owners of private information don't effectively negotiate and follow mutually held privacy rules, boundary turbulence is the likely result.

Petronio's communication privacy management (CPM) theory is built on Altman's dialectical conception of privacy as a process of opening and closing a boundary to others. Altman and Taylor's social penetration theory focused on self-disclosure as the primary way to develop close relationships. However, openness is only part of the story. We also have a desire for privacy. When Petronio first developed this theory in 1991, it was called communication boundary management. In 2002, she renamed it to communication privacy management, underscoring private disclosure is the main thrust of the theory.

The content of concealing and revealing is private information. Petronio favored the term "private information" over the term "self-disclosure" because there are many caveats inherent to private information disclosure that are not present with self-disclosure. Firstly, the motivations behind sharing are many, including but not limited to: sharing a burden, righting a wrong, and influencing others. Since private information can be about yourself or others, the decision as to what is private and whom to share it with plays a part when taking the idea of boundaries into consideration. The decision to share is ultimately left up to the process of the privacy rule management system which combines rules for coordination of information, characteristics of disclosure, and attributes of the nature of boundaries.

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