Willingness to share personal data online: The role of social influence and sustainability

The digitalization of society and the advent of artificial intelligence tools for mass usage have sparked public debates about data security and the societal impact of new technologies. People often have to share personal data online in order to access digital tools and services. However, not all individuals are equally willing to share their personal data. This study employs a large-scale pre-registered online survey experiment conducted in Germany in 2023 to examine the determinants of people's willingness to share personal information to access digital services such as chat apps, video streaming, and payment services. Building on previous research, we focus on the role of social influence and whether or not a service appears to be sustainable in terms of CO2 emissions – relevant but understudied factors in this kind of decision making. The results show that social influence increases the likelihood of data sharing, especially if the recommendation comes from an acquainted person. However, sustainability features yield relevance only for the group of respondents who are concerned about environmental protection. Supplementary analyses suggest that this operates largely through trust signaling. In this way, our study reveals how social recommendations and sustainability features influence privacy decisions, providing organizations with actionable insights for designing privacy features and helping policymakers to develop more targeted data protection approaches that consider heterogeneous user preferences.