Why do consumers disclose personal data

Abstract

Taking a mixed approach and accounting for the influence of both rational (i.e., losses and gains associated with disclosure) and irrational (i.e., habits) factors in the disclosure decision-making process, while considering the moderating role of situation-specific privacy assessments, the current study adopts a mixed approach and accounts for the influence of both rational (i.e., losses and gains associated with disclosure) and irrational (i.e., habits) factors in the disclosure decision (i.e., associated to context sensitivity). Because we want to know if consumers are willing to self-disclose – that is, share personal information voluntarily – the study focuses on overt data collection strategies, which are when customers are explicitly informed and made aware that the company is collecting personal data with their knowledge and consent. Furthermore, rather than social networking sites like Facebook, our research will focus on transactional (rather than social) data disclosure situations, i.e., situations involving commercial contexts (such as e-commerce, online banking, streaming platforms, online travel websites, e-health services, branded mobile apps)