Unlocking the privacy paradox: do cognitive heuristics hold the key?
Abstract
Even though users have become increasingly concerned about their privacy online, they continue to disclose deeply personal information in a number of online venues, including e-commerce portals and social networking sites. Scholars have tried to explain this inconsistency between attitudes and behavior by suggesting that online users consciously weigh the trade-off between the costs and benefits of online information disclosure. We argue that online user behaviors are not always rational, but may occur due to expedient decision-making in the heat of the moment. Such decisions are based on cognitive heuristics (i.e., rules of thumb) rather than on a careful analysis of each transaction. Based on this premise, we seek to identify the specific triggers for disclosure of private information online. In the experiment reported here, we explore the operation of two specific heuristics-benefit and fuzzy boundary-in influencing privacy-related attitudes and behaviors. Theoretical and design implications are discussed.
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Sundar et al. (2013) found that privacy disclosure behavior in an online context is determined heuristically rather than systematically, which leads to a positive attitude towards information disclosure.
“Also Sundar et al. (2013) found that privacy disclosure behavior in an online context is determined heuristically rather than systematically, which leads to a positive attitude towards information disclosure.”
From The privacy paradox – investigating discrepancies between expressed privacy concerns and actual online behavior – a systematic literature review (2017) · cites this paper as Sundar et al., 2013
Cites
Kalyanaraman, S., & Sundar, S. S. (2006) · Journal of Communication · doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2006.00006.x · Cited by 475 · see citing works
Self-citationBellur, S., & Sundar, S. S. (2014) · Communication Methods and Measures · doi:10.1080/19312458.2014.903390 · Cited by 93 · see citing works
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Kokolakis, S. (2017) · Computers & Security · doi:10.1016/j.cose.2015.07.002 · Cited by 1,229 · see citing works
Barth, S., & de Jong, M. D. T. (2017) · Telematics and Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.tele.2017.04.013 · Cited by 798 · see citing works
“Although users are aware of privacy risks on the internet, they tend to share private information in exchange for retail value and personalized services (Acquisti and Grossklags, 2005; Sundar et al., 2013).”
BackgroundMachine Heuristic: When We Trust Computers More than Humans with Our Personal Information
Sundar, S. S., & Kim, J. (2019) · Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3290605.3300768 · Cited by 347 · see citing works
Self-citationBarth, S., de Jong, M. D. T., Junger, M., Hartel, P. H., & Roppelt, J. C. (2019) · Telematics and Informatics · doi:10.1016/j.tele.2019.03.003 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Gil de Zúñiga, H., Goyanes, M., & Durotoye, T. (2024) · Political Communication · doi:10.1080/10584609.2023.2290497 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
- Authors
- Sundar, S. S., Kang, H., Wu, M., Go, E., & Zhang, B.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA
- Venue
- CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2013-04-27
- Pages
- 811-816
- OpenAlex
- W2150532135
- Cited by
- 64
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 10.40
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Pennsylvania State University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Information Systems and Management › Technology Adoption and User Behaviour
- Keywords
- privacy paradox, online information disclosure, cognitive heuristics, privacy attitudes, privacy behavior, rational decision-making, social networking sites, e-commerce platforms
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