The Privacy Calculus Revisited: An Empirical Investigation of Online Privacy Decisions on Between- and Within-Person Levels

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The privacy calculus assumes that people weigh perceived privacy risks and benefits before disclosing personal information. So far, empirical studies investigated the privacy calculus on a between-person level and, therefore, were not able to make statements about the intrapersonal psychological processes. In the present preregistered online within-person experiment, participants ( N = 485) were asked to imagine three different disclosure situations in which privacy risks were indicated by a privacy score. As personality variables, rational and intuitive privacy decision-making styles and privacy resignation were assessed. Results of a within-between random effects model showed that benefit perceptions were positively associated with self-disclosure intentions on between- and within-person levels. The privacy score was found to be effective in supporting users to make more privacy aware choices (within-person level). Finally, the rational decision-making style was positively related to privacy risk perception, while especially intuitive decision-makers can benefit from decision-making aids like the privacy score.