Unveiling consumer's privacy paradox behaviour in an economic exchange

Int J Bus Inf Syst. 2016;23(3):307-329. doi: 10.1504/IJBIS.2016.10000351.

Abstract

Privacy paradox is of great interest to IS researchers and firms gathering personal information. It has been studied from social, behavioural, and economic perspectives independently. However, prior research has not examined the degrees of influence these perspectives contribute to the privacy paradox problem. We combine both economic and behavioural perspectives in our study of the privacy paradox with a price valuation of personal information through an economic experiment combined with a behavioural study on privacy paradox. Our goal is to reveal more insights on the privacy paradox through economic valuation on personal information. Results indicate that general privacy concerns or individual disclosure concerns do not have a significant influence on the price valuation of personal information. Instead, prior disclosure behaviour in specific scenario, like with healthcare providers or social networks, is a better indicator of consumer price valuations.

Keywords: disclosure behaviours; personal information; privacy calculus; privacy concerns; privacy paradox; privacy valuation.