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'You must not know about me' - On the willingness to share personal data

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  • Schudy, Simeon
  • Utikal, Verena

Abstract

Although understanding preferences for privacy is of great importance to economists, businesses and politicians little is known about the factors that shape the individual willingness to share personal data. This article provides three experimental studies with a total of 470 participants that help characterizing individual preferences for sharing personal data varying the characteristics of potential recipients. We find that participants’ willingness to share personal data with anonymous recipients decreases with the number of recipients. However, social distance to the recipients and the extent of personal data a single recipient receives do not decrease the willingness to share personal data. Further, we provide a methodological insight by showing that verification of personal data is essential when eliciting privacy preferences.

Suggested Citation

  • Schudy, Simeon & Utikal, Verena, 2015. "'You must not know about me' - On the willingness to share personal data," Discussion Papers in Economics 25264, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenec:25264
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    Cited by:

    1. Hermstrüwer, Yoan & Dickert, Stephan, 2017. "Sharing is daring: An experiment on consent, chilling effects and a salient privacy nudge," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 38-49.
    2. Holm, Hakan J. & Samahita, Margaret, 2018. "Curating social image: Experimental evidence on the value of actions and selfies," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 83-104.
    3. Volker Benndorf, 2018. "Voluntary Disclosure of Private Information and Unraveling in the Market for Lemons: An Experiment," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-17, May.
    4. Janis Cloos & Björn Frank & Lukas Kampenhuber & Stephany Karam & Nhat Luong & Daniel Möller & Maria Monge-Larrain & Nguyen Tan Dat & Marco Nilgen & Christoph Rössler, 2019. "Is Your Privacy for Sale? An Experiment on the Willingness to Reveal Sensitive Information," Games, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, July.
    5. Simeon Schudy & Verena Utikal, 2018. "Does Imperfect Data Privacy Stop People from Collecting Personal Data?," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, March.
    6. David Chavanne, 2018. "Generalized Trust, Need for Cognitive Closure, and the Perceived Acceptability of Personal Data Collection," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-18, April.
    7. Dughera, Stefano & Giraudo, Marco, 2020. "Privacy Rights in Online Interactions and Litigation Dynamics: a Social Custom View," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 202003, University of Turin.
    8. Alexandra König & Christina Wirth & Jan Grippenkoven, 2021. "Generation Y’s Information Needs Concerning Sharing Rides in Autonomous Mobility on Demand Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-19, July.
    9. Joachim Plesch & Irenaeus Wolff, 2018. "Personal-Data Disclosure in a Field Experiment: Evidence on Explicit Prices, Political Attitudes, and Privacy Preferences," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-14, May.
    10. Cloos, Janis & Mohr, Svenja, 2022. "Acceptance of data sharing in smartphone apps from key industries of the digital transformation: A representative population survey for Germany," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    11. Alfnes, Frode & Wasenden, Ole Christian, 2022. "Your privacy for a discount? Exploring the willingness to share personal data for personalized offers," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7).
    12. Peppel, Marcel & Ringbeck, Jürgen & Spinler, Stefan, 2022. "How will last-mile delivery be shaped in 2040? A Delphi-based scenario study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    13. Viola Ackfeld & Werner Güth, 2019. "Personal Information Disclosure under Competition for Benefits: Is Sharing Caring?," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2019_04, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    14. Dughera, Stefano & Giraudo, Marco, 2021. "Privacy rights in online interactions and litigation dynamics: A social custom view," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. Carlo Pugnetti & Sandra Elmer, 2020. "Self-Assessment of Driving Style and the Willingness to Share Personal Information," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-18, March.
    16. Biener, Christian & Eling, Martin & Lehmann, Martin, 2020. "Balancing the desire for privacy against the desire to hedge risk," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 608-620.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    preference elicitation; data privacy; informational privacy; experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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