The value of privacy assurance: An exploratory field experiment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hui, Kai-Lung; Teo, Hock Hai; Lee, Sang-Yong Tom
• 署名单位: City University of Hong Kong; National University of Singapore; Hanyang University
• 刊物名称: MIS QUARTERLY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0276-7783
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 19-33
• 关键词: information privacy; E-commerce; disclosure; STANDARDS; trust

摘要

This paper reports the results of an exploratory field experiment in Singapore that assessed the values of two types of privacy assurance: privacy statements and privacy seals. We collaborated with a local firm to host the experiment on its website with its real domain name, and the subjects were not informed of the experiment. Hence, the study provided afield observation of the subjects' behavioral responses toward privacy assurances. We found that (1) the existence of a privacy statement induced more subjects to disclose their personal information but that of a privacy seal did not; (2) monetary incentive had a positive influence on disclosure; and (3) information request had a negative influence on disclosure. These results were robust in other specifications that used alternative measures for some of our model variables. We discuss this study in relation to the extant privacy literature, most of which employs surveys and laboratory experiments for data collection, and draw related managerial implications.