Choose to think: Nudging towards privacy informed decisions at the app download stage

Abstract

Downloading apps can pose significant privacy risks to users. While users are aware that their data is privacy-sensitive, they often do not read the privacy information provided. To support informed privacy decisions at the app download stage, we evaluated a two-stage nudge intervention in our scenario-based online study with 209 German-speaking Clickworker participants. In Stage 1, we examined whether nudges (color, reminder, social minority, social majority), compared to a control condition, can increase users’ engagement with privacy information in the app store. Once they have decided to engage, we examined how the recommendation of friends (vs. the app store) and the privacy rating (low vs. high) of a hybrid nudge with additional privacy information affected the subsequent download decision in Stage 2. Due to almost perfect separation in Stage 2, Bayesian logistic regressions were conducted. Our results found no evidence that any particular type of nudge increased the likelihood of users to engage with privacy information in Stage 1. Yet, all nudges, including the control condition, led high percentages of participants to click more about data protection (between 48.81% and 64.13%), with the subsequent privacy information in Stage 2 being considered a particularly important decision criterion for them. A “mere-exposure” and “foot-in-the-door” effect in our two-stage approach are discussed as possible explanations. Based on our findings, we derive recommendations for the design of privacy nudges that can be implemented by the app store or personal privacy assistants to promote informed privacy decisions.