‘To Share or Not to Share’? Informational Privacy Paradox

Abstract

Given our extensive presence online, consumers are increasingly concerned about information confidentiality and risks of potential misuse of personal data by organisations. Interestingly, consumers' beliefs about data privacy are often inconsistent with their actual disclosure behaviours, yielding to a so-called privacy paradox; an important yet not well-understood phenomenon, particularly, from an online consumer behavioural perspective. Building on and synthesising prior work, the current study explores the combined effect of general privacy orientation, perceived benefits, consumer sensitivity about information sharing and trust on behavioural intention and ultimately on disclosure behaviour. A total of 652 valid responses were collected using purposive sampling. The empirical data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS version 4.0. Results demonstrate that individuals concerned about their privacy often express negative intentions, yet in their actual behaviour, they nonetheless choose to share personal information with sellers. Furthermore, we find that perceived benefits, information sensitivity and trust have a positive impact on individuals' intention to share information, with privacy calculus and trust playing a further mediating role guiding the relationship between privacy concerns and behavioural intention. Finally, we complement the literature by proposing a scale to assess the informational privacy paradox phenomenon in an e-commerce context. Implications for theory and managerial practice are discussed.