Information self-disclosure on mobile instant messaging applications

Evolutionary Game—Theoretic Approach for Analyzing User Privacy Disclosure Behavior in Online Health Communities

Privacy disclosure is one of the most common user information behaviors in online health communities. Under the premise of implementing privacy protection strategies in online health communities, promoting user privacy disclosure behavior can result in a “win–win” scenario for users and online health communities. Combining the real situation and evolutionary game theory, in this study, we first constructed an evolutionary game model of privacy disclosure behavior with users and online health communities as the main participants. Then, we solved the replication dynamic equations for both parties and analyzed the evolutionary stable strategies (ESSs) in different scenarios. Finally, we adopted MATLAB for numerical simulations to verify the accuracy of the model. Studies show that: (1) factors such as medical service support and community rewards that users receive after disclosing their private personal information affect user game strategy; and (2) the additional costs of the online health communities implementing the “positive protection” strategy and the expected loss related to the privacy leakage risk affect the online health communities’ game strategy. In this regard, this paper puts forward the following suggestions in order to optimize the benefits of both sets of participants: the explicit benefits of users should be improved, the internal environment of the communities should be optimized, the additional costs of the “positive protection” strategy should be reduced, and penalties for privacy leakages should be increased.

Privacy calculus or heuristic cues? The dual process of privacy decision making on Chinese social media

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of self-disclosure intention on mobile social applications. This study integrates privacy calculus model and elaboration likelihood theory to reconcile the rational and heuristic views of privacy decision making.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a “random dialing” sampling method, an empirical survey with 913 respondents was conducted. A series of regression models were employed to test the proposed relationships. Robust checks with sub-group analysis were conducted.

Findings

Self-disclosure intention develops along a dual route including the central route and the peripheral route. When the central route predominates, social media users form their attitudes toward self-disclosure based on a rational calculus of the privacy concern and perceived rewards. When the peripheral route predominates, users perform a more heuristic evaluation of relevant informational cues (information about privacy harms, the extent of information asymmetry between users and operators) and contextual cues (flow experience, privacy disclosure of friends). Peripheral cues moderate the relationships between central cues and self-disclosure intention.

Originality/value

This paper extends the Elaboration Likelihood Model by investigating the interaction between the central route and peripheral route. The results provide alternative explanations on the renowned “privacy paradox” phenomenon.