article · Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research
Online commerce depends on consumers voluntarily sharing personal information, but people evaluate privacy trade-offs differently. An analysis of survey responses from 743 online shoppers investigated how privacy concerns, trust, perceived benefits, and perceived risk influence the intention to disclose information. The research highlights structural differences depending on whether individuals feel they have high or low control over their privacy. Overall, privacy concerns do not directly stop disclosure; rather, they heighten perceived risk, which then discourages sharing. Perceived benefits motivate information disclosure but do not reduce risk perceptions. For consumers who feel they have higher privacy control, benefits more strongly drive disclosure, and trust significantly lowers perceived risk. Conversely, for individuals feeling less in control, perceived risk is a stronger deterrent, and trust acts as a vital coping mechanism to navigate their limited agency.
Digital platforms often struggle to understand why consumers hesitate to share information online. By demonstrating that privacy evaluations differ according to personal sense of control, these findings help clarify why users react unpredictably to data requests. Recognising this divide allows platform operators to appreciate how perceived risks and platform trust shape consumer behaviour in different consumer segments.
The insights could be applied by e-commerce businesses and digital platform designers seeking to optimise user data collection strategies and trust-building features. The work represents applied behavioural research rather than a software tool, so translation into practice would require digital businesses to test user experience designs that either enhance consumer privacy control or build compensatory trust.
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Consumer self-disclosure remains a central question in digital markets, as e-commerce participation increasingly depends on voluntary personal information sharing. Despite extensive application of privacy calculus theory, empirical findings regarding privacy concerns, trust, and perceived risk remain inconsistent, suggesting that the structural relationships underlying privacy trade-offs may vary across consumers and contexts. This study examines how privacy concerns, perceived benefits, perceived risk, and trust relate to perceived risk and personal information disclosure intention in e-commerce, and whether these structural relationships differ between consumers with higher and lower perceived privacy control (PPC). Survey data from 743 online consumers were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling and multigroup comparisons between consumers with high and low perceived privacy control. Findings show privacy concerns do not directly inhibit disclosure intention; instead, they are strongly associated with perceived risk, which is negatively associated with disclosure intention. The results reveal a separation between benefit and risk appraisal: perceived benefits motivate disclosure intention but do not significantly reduce perceived risk. The multigroup results reveal significant structural differences between the relatively high- and low-PPC groups. In the relatively high-PPC group, the relationship between perceived benefits and disclosure intention is stronger, as is the negative relationship between trust and perceived risk. In the relatively low-PPC group, perceived risk exerts a stronger inhibiting effect, while trust assumes a compensatory role, helping consumers navigate limited agency. By identifying structural heterogeneity in the privacy calculus across PPC groups, this study explains variations in disclosure decisions and clarifies inconsistent findings in prior research.
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DOI: 10.3390/jtaer21090313
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