Privacy Concerns and Information Sharing: The Perspective of the U-Shaped Curve

Chien-Lung Hsu; Yi-Chuan Liao; Ching-Wen Lee; Lin Kun Chan

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.771278

Privacy Concerns and Information Sharing: The Perspective of the U-Shaped Curve

Front Psychol. 2022 May 10:13:771278. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.771278. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Chien-Lung Hsu¹, Yi-Chuan Liao², Ching-Wen Lee¹, Lin Kun Chan²

Affiliations

¹ Department of International Business Administration, Chinese Culture University, Taipei, Taiwan.
² School of Business, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao SAR, China.

Abstract

Privacy concerns are a key predictor of information sharing, yet some critical issues remain unclear. Based on social capital theory, this study argues that the relationship between privacy concerns and information sharing is a U-shaped curve. Users with privacy concerns would not share their private information; however, such users would eventually share their information as long as they trust the website and its members. Furthermore, this study provides a contingency perspective, suggesting that the curvilinear relationship between privacy concerns and information sharing varies with the system evaluation perception and personal motivation levels. The results show that at a high level of system evaluation, the relationship between privacy concerns squared and information sharing is non-significant. In contrast, at a low level of system evaluation, there is a U-shaped relationship between privacy concerns and information sharing. Regarding motivation, the results were congruent with our expectations.

Keywords: information sharing; personal motivation; privacy concern; social network sites; system evaluation factor.