Valuation of Personal Information in the E-commerce Websites based on Contingent Valuation Method

Abstract

Personal information is the common wealth of consumers and producers, and the phenomenon of using personal information for commercial purposes is particularly prominent in the field of E-commerce. However, there is no clear judgement on the value of personal information in the existing market transaction process. By summarizing the basic concepts and valuation methods of personal information, this study introduced the contingent valuation method (CVM) which was widely used in the valuation of non-market value of public goods into the value assessment of consumers' personal information. In the empirical research process, the combination of open-ended pre-survey and dichotomous choice contingent valuation method (DCCVM) was adopted; for the consumers of online movie ticketing platform, the first 300 questionnaires were issued to obtain the initial bids, and then the 661 questionnaires were issued to get their willingness to accept (WTA) for providing the platform with personal information. Finally, using willingness-to-accept model, this study gets the average value of consumers' age and home address information on movie ticketing platform and confirms that the CVM is an effective method to assess the value of personal information based on individual perspective.