The trade-off between convenience and privacy: Sharing personal data with intelligent vehicles in exchange for convenient driving

Abstract

This research focuses on the trade-off between data privacy and the convenience of using modern, built-in automobile infotainment systems as a precursor to intelligent vehicles. Our research approach involves a survey with experimental elements. Various dimensions of consumers’ ‘convenience of use’ and ‘openness to sharing data’ were identified via focus groups and incorporated into the survey of a sample of young consumers. The conceptual model was tested using structural equation modelling in SmartPLS 4. The main finding is the positive relationship between ‘convenience of use’ and ‘openness to sharing data’ implying the wiliness of young consumers to forgo privacy concerns in exchange of higher levels of perceived convenience. The warning given to the experimental group about the potential risk to data privacy did not solicit the expected response, as both the experimental and the control groups were equally willing to exchange their personal data for the convenience of using modern infotainment systems. The main contribution of this empirical study is in pursuing a nomological framework to conceptualize and develop an original scale for the ‘convenience of use’ and ‘openness to sharing data’ constructs. To our knowledge, this is the first study to focus on the convenience/data privacy trade-off applied to modern infotainment systems. Modern infotainment systems are the heralds of intelligent vehicles and more automated modes of transportation. Today consumers frequently exchange their data for convenience, so the legal and ethical boundaries of data-sharing in the context of infotainment systems must be discussed.