Share:


Influence of trust and conspiracy beliefs on the disclosure of personal data online

    Ignas Zimaitis   Affiliation
    ; Sigitas Urbonavičius   Affiliation
    ; Mindaugas Degutis Affiliation
    ; Vaida Kaduškevičiūtė   Affiliation

Abstract

The issue of trust-based personal data disclosure online remains of high importance both in social networking and online purchasing. Additionally, social networking is linked with a controversial factor of conspiracy beliefs that recently received attention because of Covid-19 pandemic. Conspiracy beliefs trigger activities online, but generate hesitations in regards to rational ideas, requests and procedures. Therefore, it is unclear how they impact rational requests of data disclosure in online shopping. The paper analyses how trust and conspiracy beliefs impact willingness to disclose personal data in social networking and in online shopping. The modelling based on the social exchange theory conceptualizes these two online activities as reciprocal and negotiated types of exchange. The findings based on structural equation modelling show some similarities between the impacts of trust and conspiracy believes in case of social networking, but disclose their radical differences in regards to willingness to disclose personal data in online purchasing.


First published online 28 February 2022

Keyword : trust, conspiracy beliefs, social networking, self-disclosure, willingness to disclose personal data, social exchange theory

How to Cite
Zimaitis, I., Urbonavičius, S., Degutis, M., & Kaduškevičiūtė, V. (2022). Influence of trust and conspiracy beliefs on the disclosure of personal data online. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 23(3), 551–568. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2022.16119
Published in Issue
May 12, 2022
Abstract Views
996
PDF Downloads
951
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Ahmad, W., & Sun, J. (2018). Modeling consumer distrust of online hotel reviews. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 71, 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.12.005

Alarcon, G. M., Lyons, J. B., Christensen, J. C., Bowers, M. A., Klosterman, S. L., & Capiola, A. (2018). The role of propensity to trust and the five factor model across the trust process. Journal of Research in Personality, 75, 69–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2018.05.006

Allington, D., Duffy, B., Wessely, S., Dhavan, N., & Rubin, J. (2021). Health-protective behaviour, social media usage and conspiracy belief during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Psychological Medicine, 51(10), 1763–1769. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329172000224X

Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2020). The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48(1), 79–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1

Balapour, A., Nikkhah, H. R., & Sabherwal, R. (2020). Mobile application security: Role of perceived privacy as the predictor of security perceptions. International Journal of Information Management, 52, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2019.102063

Bansal, G., Zahedi, F. M., & Gefen, D. (2016). Do context and personality matter? Trust and privacy concerns in disclosing private information online. Information & Management, 53(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2015.08.001

Barth, S., & de Jong, M. D. T. (2017). The privacy paradox – Investigating discrepancies between expressed privacy concerns and actual online behavior – A systematic literature review. Telematics and Informatics, 34(7), 1038–1058. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.04.013

Bazarova, N. N., & Choi, Y. H. (2014). Self-disclosure in social media: Extending the functional approach to disclosure motivations and characteristics on social network sites. Journal of Communication, 64(4), 635–657. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcom.12106

Bernerth, J., & Walker, H. J. (2009). Propensity to trust and the impact on social exchange. An empirical investigation. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 15(3), 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051808326594

Blau, P. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. Wiley.

Bleier, A., Goldfarb, A., & Tuckerc, C. (2020). Consumer privacy and the future of data-based innovation and marketing. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 37(3), 466–480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2020.03.006

Brotherton, R., French, C. C., & Pickering, A. D. (2013). Measuring belief in conspiracy theories: The generic conspiracist beliefs scale. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00279

Byrne, B. M. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming (2nd ed.). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Chang, Y. S., & Fang, S. R. (2013). Antecedents and distinctions between online trust and distrust: Predicting high-and low-risk internet behaviors. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 14(2), 149.

Chen, Y., Yan, X., Fan, W., & Gordon, M. (2015). The joint moderating role of trust propensity and gender on consumer’s online shopping behaviour. Computers in Human Behavior, 43, 272–283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2014.10.020

Cheng, F. C., & Wang, Y. S. (2018). The do not track mechanism for digital footprint privacy protection in marketing applications. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 19(2), 253–267. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2018.5200

Cheng, J., Romero, D. M., Meeder, B., & Kleinberg, J. (2011). Predicting reciprocity in social networks. In 2011 IEEE Third International Conference on Privacy, Security, Risk and Trust and 2011 IEEE Third International Conference on Social Computing (pp. 49–56). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/PASSAT/SocialCom.2011.110

Cheshire, C. (2007). Selective incentives and generalized information exchange. Social Psychology Quarterly, 70(1), 82–100. https://doi.org/10.1177/019027250707000109

Chung, K. L., Morshidi, I., Yoong, L. C., & Thian, K. N. (2019). The role of the dark tetrad and impulsivity in social media addiction: Findings from Malaysia. Personality and Individual Differences, 143, 62–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.02.016

Degutis, M., Urbonavičius, S., Zimaitis, I., Skare, V., & Laurutytė, D. (2020). Willingness to disclose personal information: How to measure it? Engineering Economics, 31(4), 487–494. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.31.4.25168

Dinev, T., Bellotto, M., Hart, P., Russo, V., Serra, I., & Colautti, C. (2006). Privacy calculus model in e-commerce – A study of Italy and the United States. European Journal of Information Systems, 15, 389–402. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.ejis.3000590

Douglas, K. M., Uscinski, J. E., Sutton, R. M., Cichocka, A., Nefes, T., Ang, C. S., & Deravi, F. (2019). Understanding conspiracy theories. Political Psychology, 40(S1), 3–35. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12568

Emerson, R. M. (1976). Social exchange theory. Annual Review of Sociology, 2, 335–362. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.so.02.080176.002003

Emerson, R. M. (1981). Social exchange theory. In M. Rosenberg & R. H. Turner (Eds.), Social psychology: Sociological perspectives (pp. 30–65). Basic Books.

Foa, U. G., & Foa, E. B. (1974). Societal structures of the mind. Charles Thomas.

Frazier, M. L., Johnson, P. D., & Fainshmidt, S. (2013). Development and validation of a propensity to trust scale. Journal of Trust Research, 3(2), 76–97. https://doi.org/10.1080/21515581.2013.820026

Georgiou, N., Delfabbro, P., & Balzan, R. (2020). COVID-19-related conspiracy beliefs and their relationship with perceived stress and pre-existing conspiracy beliefs. Personality and Individual Differences, 166, 110201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110201

Goddard, M. (2017). The EU general data protection regulation (GDPR): European regulation that has a global impact. International Journal of Market Research, 59(6), 703–705. https://doi.org/10.2501/IJMR-2017-050

Goreis, A., & Kothgassner, O. D. (2020). Social media as vehicle for conspiracy beliefs on COVID-19. Digital Psychology, 1(2), 36–39. https://doi.org/10.24989/dp.v1i2.1866

Goreis, A., & Voracek, M. (2019). A systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological research on conspiracy beliefs: Field characteristics, measurement instruments, and associations with personality traits. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00205

Grosso, M., & Castaldo, S. (2014). Retailer-customers relationships in the online setting: An empirical investigation to overcome privacy concerns and improve information sharing. In F. Musso & E. Druica (Eds.), Handbook of research on retailer-consumer relationship development (pp. 404–425). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-6074-8.ch022

Gupta, B., Iyer, L. S., & Weisskirch, R. S. (2010). Facilitating global e-commerce: A comparison of consumers’ willingness to disclose personal information online in the US and India. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 11(1), 41–52.

Heirman, W., Walrave, M., Ponnet, K., & van Gool, E. (2013). Predicting adolescents’ willingness to disclose personal information to a commercial website: Testing the applicability of a trust-based model. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 7(3), 3. https://doi.org/10.5817/CP2013-3-3

Homans, G. C. (1961). Social behaviour: Its elementary forms. Taylor & Francis.

Hong, W., Chan, F. K. Y., & Thong, J. Y. L. (2021). Drivers and inhibitors of internet privacy concern: A multidimensional development theory perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 168, 539–564. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04237-1

Jacobson, J., Gruzd, A., & Hernández-García, Á. (2020). Social media marketing: Who is watching the watchers? Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.03.001

Jenkins-Guarnieri, M. A., Wright, S. L., & Johnson, B. (2013). Development and validation of a social media use integration scale. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 2(1), 38–50. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0030277

Joinson, A. N., & Paine, C. B. (2007). Self-disclosure, privacy and the internet. In Oxford handbook of Internet psychology (pp. 237–252). Oxford University Press.

Kehr, F., Kowatsch, T., Wentzel, D., & Fleisch, E. (2015). Blissfully ignorant: The effects of general privacy concerns, general institutional trust, and affect in the privacy calculus. Information Systems Journal, 25(6), 607–635. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12062

Keith, M. J., Babb, J. S., Lowry, P. B., Furner, C. P., & Abdullat, A. (2015). The role of mobile‐computing self‐efficacy in consumer information disclosure. Information Systems Journal, 25(6), 637–667. https://doi.org/10.1111/isj.12082

Kim, D., Park, K., Park, Y., & Ahn, J. H. (2019). Willingness to provide personal information: Perspective of privacy calculus in IoT services. Computers in Human Behavior, 92, 273–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.11.022

Kim, J., & Kim, J. (2014). A study on the causes of information privacy concerns and protective responses in e-commerce: Focusing on the principal-agent theory. The Journal of Information Systems, 23(4), 119–145. https://doi.org/10.5859/KAIS.2014.23.4.119

Kim, S., & Park, H. (2013). Effects of various characteristics of social commerce (s-commerce) on consumers’ trust and trust performance. International Journal of Information Management, 33(2), 318–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.11.006

King, J. (2018). Privacy, disclosure, and social exchange theory [Dissertation]. University of California, Berkeley.

Koe, W. L., & Sakir, N. A. (2020). The motivation to adopt e-commerce among Malaysian entrepreneurs. Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies, 11(1), 189–202. https://doi.org/10.15388/omee.2020.11.30

Koohikamali, M., Peak, D. A., & Prybutok, V. (2017). Beyond self-disclosure: disclosure of information about others in social network sites. Computers in Human Behaviour, 69, 29–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.012

Lee, S., & Choi, J. (2017). Enhancing user experience with conversational agent for movie recommendation: Effects of self-disclosure and reciprocity. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 103, 95–105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.02.005

Lévi-Strauss, C. (1969). The elementary structures of kinship (Revised ed.). Beacon.

Lin, C. Y., Chou, E. Y., & Huang, H. C. (2020). They support, so we talk: The effects of other users on self-disclosure on social networking sites. Information Technology & People, 34(3), 1039–064. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-10-2018-0463

Lwin, M., Wirtz, J., & Williams, J. D. (2007). Consumer online privacy concerns and responses: A power–responsibility equilibrium perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 35(4), 572–585. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-006-0003-3

Malgieri, G., & Custers, B. (2018). Pricing privacy – the right to know the value of your personal data. Computer Law & Security Review, 34(2), 289–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2017.08.006

Martin, K. D., & Palmatier, R. W. (2020). Data privacy in retail: Navigating tensions and directing future research. Journal of Retailing, 94(4), 449–457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2020.10.002

Masur, P. K. (2019). The theory of situational privacy and self-disclosure. In Situational privacy and self-disclosure (pp. 131–182). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78884-5_7

Meier, Y., Schäwel, J., & Krämer, N. C. (2020). The shorter the better? Effects of privacy policy length on online privacy decision-making. Media and Communication, 8(2), 291–301. https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.v8i2.2846

Meinert, D. B., Peterson, D. K., Criswell, J. R., & Crossland, M. D. (2006). Privacy policy statements and consumer willingness to provide personal information. Journal of Electronic Commerce in Organizations, 4(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.4018/jeco.2006010101

Metzger, M. (2004). Privacy, trust, and disclosure: Exploring barriers to electronic commerce. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 9(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2004.tb00292.x

Molm, L., Takahashi, N., & Peterson, G. (2000). Risk and trust in social exchange: An experimental test of a classical proposition. American Journal of Sociology, 105(5), 1396–1427. https://doi.org/10.1086/210434

Morimoto, M. (2021). Privacy concerns about personalized advertising across multiple social media platforms in Japan: The relationship with information control and persuasion knowledge. International Journal of Advertising, 40(3), 431–451. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2020.1796322

Mosteller, J., & Poddar, A. (2017). To share and protect: Using regulatory focus theory to examine the privacy paradox of consumers’ social media engagement and online privacy protection behaviors. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 39, 27–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2017.02.003

Moyaery, M., & Urbonavičius, S. (2021). Importance of privacy regulatory environments on willingness to disclose personal data in e-stores. In Proceedings of AIRSI 2021 Conference (pp. 41–44). Zaragoza University, Spain.

Murphy, G. B. (2003). Propensity to trust, purchase experience, and trusting beliefs of unfamiliar e-commerce ventures. New England Journal of Entrepreneurship, 6(2), 53–64. https://doi.org/10.1108/NEJE-06-02-2003-B008

Norberg, P. A., Horne, D. R., & Horne, D. A. (2007). The privacy paradox: Personal information disclosure intentions versus behaviors. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 41(1), 100–126. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6606.2006.00070.x

Olk, P. M., & Gibbons, D. E. (2010). Dynamics of friendship reciprocity among professional adults. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(5), 1146–1171. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00614.x

Padyab, A., Päivärinta, T., Ståhlbröst, A., & Bergvall-Kåreborn, B. (2019). Awareness of indirect information disclosure on social network sites. Social Media+ Society, 5(2), 2056305118824199. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118824199

Parker, H. J., & Flowerday, S. (2021). Understanding the disclosure of personal data online. Information & Computer Security, 29(3), 413–434. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICS-10-2020-0168

Pellegrini, V., Giacomantonio, M., De Cristofaro, V., Salvati, M., Brasini, M., Carlo, E., Mancini, F., & Leone, L. (2021). Is Covid-19 a natural event? Covid-19 pandemic and conspiracy beliefs. Personality and Individual Differences, 188, 111011. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111011

Prince, C. (2018). Do consumers want to control their personal data? Empirical evidence. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 110, 21–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.10.003

Robinson, C. (2017). Disclosure of personal data in ecommerce: A cross-national comparison of Estonia and the United States. Telematics and Informatics, 34(2), 569–582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2016.09.006

Robinson, S. C. (2018). Factors predicting attitude toward disclosing personal data online. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce, 28(3), 214–233. https://doi.org/10.1080/10919392.2018.1482601

Schlosser, A. E. (2020). Self-disclosure versus self-presentation on Social media. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.06.025

Shpak, N., Kuzmin, O., Dvulit, Z., Onysenko, T., & Sroka, W. (2020). Digitalization of the marketing activities of enterprises: Case study. Information, 11(2), 109. https://doi.org/10.3390/info11020109

Skare, V., Urbonavicius, S., Laurutyte, D., & Zimaitis, I. (2020). Dispositional willingness to provide personal data online: Antecedents and the mechanism. In Proceedings of the European Marketing Academy 49th Conference.

Skrinjaric, B., Budak, J., & Rajh, E. (2019). Perceived quality of privacy protection regulations and online privacy concern. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 32(1), 982–1000. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2019.1585272

Strycharz, J., van Noort, G., Helberger, N., & Smit, E. (2019). Contrasting perspectives-practitioner’s viewpoint on personalised marketing communication. European Journal of Marketing, 53(4), 635–660. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-11-2017-0896

Sun, Y., Zhang, Y., Shen, X. L., Wang, N., Zhang, X., & Wu, Y. (2018). Understanding the trust building mechanisms in social media: Regulatory effectiveness, trust transfer, and gender difference. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 70(5), 498–517. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJIM-03-2018-0072

Swoboda, B., & Winters, A. (2021). Reciprocity within major retail purchase channels and their effects on overall, offline and online loyalty. Journal of Business Research, 125, 279–294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.12.024

Urbonavičius, S. (2020). Willingness to disclose personal data online: Not just a situational issue. In Proceedings of AIRSI 2020 Conference (pp. 66–90). Zaragoza University, Spain.

Urbonavičius, S., & Zimaitis, I. (2018). The mediating role of paranoia on online consumer behaviour. In Proceedings of the 9th EMAC Regional Conference. Prague, Czech Republic.

Urbonavicius, S., Degutis, M., Zimaitis, I., Kaduskeviciute, V., & Skare, V. (2021). From social networking to willingness to disclose personal data when shopping online: Modelling in the context of social exchange theory. Journal of Business Research, 136, 76–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.07.031

Vadana, I. I., Torkkeli, L., Kuivalainen, O., & Saarenketo, S. (2019). Digitalization of companies in international entrepreneurship and marketing. International Marketing Review, 37(3), 471–492. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-04-2018-0129

van der Schyff, K., Flowerday, S., & Furnell, S. (2020). Duplicitous social media and data surveillance: An evaluation of privacy risk. Computers & Security, 94, 101822. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2020.101822

van Prooijen, J.-W., & de Vries, R. E. (2016). Organizational conspiracy beliefs: Implications for leadership styles and employee outcomes. Journal of Business Psychology, 31, 479–491. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-015-9428-3

Varnali, K., & Toker, A. (2015). Self-disclosure on social networking sites. Social Behavior and Personality, 43(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2015.43.1.1

Wakefield, R. (2013). The influence of user affect in online information disclosure. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 22(2), 157–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2013.01.003

Wang, T., Duong, T. D., & Chen, C. C. (2016). Intention to disclose personal information via mobile applications: A privacy calculus perspective. International Journal of Information Management, 36(4), 531–542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.03.003

Weinberger, M., Bouhnik, D., & Zhitomirsky-Geffet, M. (2017a). Factors affecting students’ privacy paradox and privacy protection behavior. Open Information Science, 1(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1515/opis-2017-0002

Weinberger, M., Zhitomirsky-Geffet, M., & Bouhnik, D. (2017b). Factors affecting users’ online privacy literacy among students in Israel. Online Information Review, 41(5), 655–671. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-05-2016-0127

Wirtz, B. W., Göttel, V., & Daiser, P. (2017). Social networks: Usage intensity and effects on personalized advertising. Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, 18(2), 103–123.

Xu, H., Dinev, T., Smith, J., & Hart, P. (2011). Information privacy concerns: Linking individual perceptions with institutional privacy assurances. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 12(12), 798–824. https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00281

Yang, X. (2019). How perceived social distance and trust influence reciprocity expectations and eWOM sharing intention in social commerce. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 119(4), 867–880. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-04-2018-0139

Zhang, J., Hassandoust, F., & Williams, J. E. (2020). Online customer trust in the context of the general data protection regulation (GDPR). Pacific Asia Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 12(1), 86–122. https://doi.org/10.17705/1pais.12104

Zhang, R., & Fu, J. S. (2020). Privacy management and self-disclosure on social network sites: The moderating effects of stress and gender. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 25(3), 236–251. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmaa004

Zhao, J., Zhu, C., Peng, Z., Xu, X., & Liu, Y. (2018). User willingness toward knowledge sharing in social networks. Sustainability, 10(12), 4680. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124680

Zimaitis, I., Degutis, M., & Urbonavicius, S. (2020a). Social media use and paranoia: Factors that matter in online shopping. Sustainability, 12(3), 904. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12030904

Zimaitis, I., Urbonavicius, S., Degutis, M., & Kaduskeviciute, V. (2020b). Impact of age on the willingness to disclose personal data in e-shopping. In Proceedings of EMAC 11th Regional Conference. Zagreb. http://proceedings.emac-online.org/pdfs/R2020-84569.pdf

Zimmer, J. C., Arsal, R. E., Al-Marzouq, M., & Grover, V. (2010). Investigating online information disclosure: Effects of information relevance, trust and risk. Information & Management, 47(2), 115–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2009.12.003