IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceco/v119y2025ics2214804325001119.html

Does reluctance to share personal data reduce citizen demand for personalized services? Evidence from a survey experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Santamaria, Julieth
  • Roseth, Benjamin
  • Aguirre, Florencia

Abstract

Digital transformation has brought two conflicting trends: a demand for more customized services requiring the use of personal data, and a concern for data protection. Reconciling these trends may influence personalized public service design and adoption strategies. This study explores how to mitigate citizens’ reluctance to share data on personalized public services. Through a survey experiment, we offered two hypothetical services: one educational service (scholarship) and one health-related service (checkup). Respondents were randomly assigned to one of three groups, receiving different information: (i) a summary of service benefits; (ii) a summary of benefits with a data use disclosure; and (iii) a data usage disclosure. The findings show strong baseline interest in personalized services. However, data-use disclosures reduced interest in both services, resulting in declines of 2.7 to 3.0 percentage points. Providing detailed service descriptions increased interest by 5.0 and 6.1 percentage points for education and health services, respectively. This suggests that offering information about the benefits of the service can offset concerns about data privacy. These effects remained consistent among different population groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Santamaria, Julieth & Roseth, Benjamin & Aguirre, Florencia, 2025. "Does reluctance to share personal data reduce citizen demand for personalized services? Evidence from a survey experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:119:y:2025:i:c:s2214804325001119
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2025.102447
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214804325001119
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socec.2025.102447?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Armin Falk & James J. Heckman, 2009. "Lab Experiments are a Major Source of Knowledge in the Social Sciences," Working Papers 200935, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    2. Athina Ioannou & Iis Tussyadiah & Graham Miller & Shujun Li & Mario Weick, 2021. "Privacy nudges for disclosure of personal information: A systematic literature review and meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(8), pages 1-29, August.
    3. Omar Al-Ubaydli & John List, 2012. "On the Generalizability of Experimental Results in Economics," Artefactual Field Experiments 00467, The Field Experiments Website.
    4. Jeffrey T. Prince & Scott Wallsten, 2022. "How much is privacy worth around the world and across platforms?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 841-861, November.
    5. Martínez Villarreal, Déborah & Parilli, Cristina & Rojas Méndez, Ana María & Scartascini, Carlos & Simpser, Alberto, 2021. "Do You Have COVID-19?: How to Increase the Use of Diagnostic and Contact-Tracing Apps," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 11121, Inter-American Development Bank.
    6. Alessandro Acquisti & Curtis Taylor & Liad Wagman, 2016. "The Economics of Privacy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(2), pages 442-492, June.
    7. Tamara Dinev & Paul Hart, 2006. "An Extended Privacy Calculus Model for E-Commerce Transactions," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 17(1), pages 61-80, March.
    8. Susan Athey & Christian Catalini & Catherine Tucker, 2017. "The Digital Privacy Paradox: Small Money, Small Costs, Small Talk," NBER Working Papers 23488, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Reyes, Angela & Roseth, Benjamin & Vera-Cossio, Diego A., 2021. "Technology, Identification, and Access to Social Programs: Experimental Evidence from Panama," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 11535, Inter-American Development Bank.
    10. Viviana Celli, 2022. "Causal mediation analysis in economics: Objectives, assumptions, models," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(1), pages 214-234, February.
    11. Keefer, Philip & Scartascini, Carlos, 2022. "Trust: The Key to Social Cohesion and Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 11771, June.
    12. Gallegos, Sebastian & Roseth, Benjamin & Cuesta, Ana & Sánchez, Mario, 2023. "Increasing the take-up of public health services: An at-scale experiment on digital government," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Olivier Armantier & Sebastian Doerr & Jon Frost & Andreas Fuster & Kelly Shue, 2024. "Nothing to hide? Gender and age differences in willingness to share data," Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper Series 24-99, Swiss Finance Institute.
    2. Guy Aridor & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Ro'ee Levy & Lena Song, 2024. "The Economics of Social Media," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1422-1474, December.
    3. Paliński, Michał & Jusypenko, Bartosz & Hardy, Wojciech, 2025. "Behind the screens. Privacy and advertising preferences in VoD —the role of privacy concerns, persuasion knowledge, and experience," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Bleier, Alexander & Goldfarb, Avi & Tucker, Catherine, 2020. "Consumer privacy and the future of data-based innovation and marketing," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 466-480.
    5. Syngjoo Choi & Bongseop Kim & Young Sik Kim & Ohik Kwon, 2025. "Central Bank Digital Currency And Privacy: A Randomized Survey Experiment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 66(2), pages 823-847, May.
    6. Freddi, Eleonora & Wasenden, Ole Christian, 2024. "Privacy during pandemics: Attitudes to public use of personal data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    7. Omar Al-Ubaydli & John A. List, 2015. "Do Natural Field Experiments Afford Researchers More or Less Control than Laboratory Experiments? A Simple Model," NBER Working Papers 20877, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Mert Demirer & Diego Jimenez-Hernandez & Dean Li & Sida Peng, 2024. "Data, Privacy Laws and Firm Production: Evidence from the GDPR," Working Paper Series WP 2024-02, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    9. Rhodes, Andrew & Zhou, Jidong, 2024. "Personalization and Privacy Choice," CEPR Discussion Papers 19000, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    10. Tawfiq Alashoor & Mark Keil & H. Jeff Smith & Allen R. McConnell, 2023. "Too Tired and in Too Good of a Mood to Worry About Privacy: Explaining the Privacy Paradox Through the Lens of Effort Level in Information Processing," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 34(4), pages 1415-1436, December.
    11. David A. Schweidel & Yakov Bart & J. Jeffrey Inman & Andrew T. Stephen & Barak Libai & Michelle Andrews & Ana Babić Rosario & Inyoung Chae & Zoey Chen & Daniella Kupor & Chiara Longoni & Felipe Thomaz, 2022. "How consumer digital signals are reshaping the customer journey," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(6), pages 1257-1276, November.
    12. Rehse, Dominik & Tremöhlen, Felix, 2020. "Fostering participation in digital public health interventions: The case of digital contact tracing," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-076, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Omar Al-Ubaydli & John A. List, 2013. "On the Generalizability of Experimental Results in Economics: With a Response to Commentors," CESifo Working Paper Series 4543, CESifo.
    14. Helia Marreiros & Mirco Tonin & Michael Vlassopoulos & M.C. Schraefel, 2016. "“Now that you mention it”: A Survey Experiment on Information, Salience and Online Privacy," BEMPS - Bozen Economics & Management Paper Series BEMPS34, Faculty of Economics and Management at the Free University of Bozen.
    15. Jeanine Miklós-Thal & Avi Goldfarb & Avery Haviv & Catherine Tucker, 2024. "Frontiers: Digital Hermits," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(4), pages 697-708, July.
    16. Rod Garratt & Maarten van Oordt, 2019. "Systemic Privacy as a Public Good: A Case for Electronic Cash," Staff Working Papers 19-24, Bank of Canada.
    17. Shuilin Liu & Xudong Lin & Xiaoli Huang & Hanyang Luo & Sumin Yu, 2023. "Research on Service-Driven Benign Market with Platform Subsidy Strategy," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, January.
    18. Bylicki, Michał & Zawojska, Ewa & Łukasik, Krystian, 2025. "How much is our online privacy worth? A comparison of the value of personal data to internet users and online platforms in Poland," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    19. Ginger Zhe Jin, 2018. "Artificial Intelligence and Consumer Privacy," NBER Chapters, in: The Economics of Artificial Intelligence: An Agenda, pages 439-462, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Jin, Ginger Zhe & Wagman, Liad, 2021. "Big data at the crossroads of antitrust and consumer protection," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:soceco:v:119:y:2025:i:c:s2214804325001119. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620175 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.