A Longitudinal Study of Information Privacy on Mobile Devices
47th Hawaiian International Conference on Systems Sciences (HICSS 2014), Big Island, Hawaii, January 6–9, 3149-3158
11 Pages Posted: 11 Sep 2013 Last revised: 23 Nov 2014
Date Written: August 17, 2013
Abstract
The real value of mobile applications is heavily dependent on consumers’ trust in the privacy of their personal information and location data. However, research has generated few results based on actual information disclosure and even less that is based on longitudinal behavior. The purpose of this study is to execute a unique and authentic field experiment involving real risks and consumer behaviors regarding information disclosure over mobile devices. We compare two theoretical explanations of disclosure decisions: privacy calculus and prospect theory. Our results indicate that consumers are best modeled as "bounded" rational actors concerning their disclosure behavior. Also, actual information disclosure behavior over mobile applications is a more multifaceted issue than research has treated it thus far. For practice, mobile application providers should be aware that increasing the benefits of information disclosure via the app may have the counterintuitive effect of increasing perceived risk and reducing consumer disclosure.
Keywords: mobile computing, mobile commerce, self-disclosure, privacy, privacy calculus
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