[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jgames/v10y2019i3p28-d245811.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Your Privacy for Sale? An Experiment on the Willingness to Reveal Sensitive Information

Author

Listed:
  • Janis Cloos

    (Institute of Management and Economics, Clausthal University of Technology, Julius-Albert-Str. 2, 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany)

  • Björn Frank

    (Institute of Economics, University of Kassel, Nora-Platiel-Str. 4, 34127 Kassel, Germany)

  • Lukas Kampenhuber

    (School of Business and Economics, University of Marburg, Am Plan 1, 35032 Marburg, Germany)

  • Stephany Karam

    (School of Business and Economics, University of Marburg, Am Plan 1, 35032 Marburg, Germany)

  • Nhat Luong

    (Institute of Economics, University of Kassel, Nora-Platiel-Str. 4, 34127 Kassel, Germany)

  • Daniel Möller

    (School of Business and Economics, University of Marburg, Am Plan 1, 35032 Marburg, Germany)

  • Maria Monge-Larrain

    (Institute of Economics, University of Kassel, Nora-Platiel-Str. 4, 34127 Kassel, Germany)

  • Nguyen Tan Dat

    (School of Business and Economics, University of Marburg, Am Plan 1, 35032 Marburg, Germany)

  • Marco Nilgen

    (School of Business and Economics, University of Marburg, Am Plan 1, 35032 Marburg, Germany)

  • Christoph Rössler

    (School of Business and Economics, University of Marburg, Am Plan 1, 35032 Marburg, Germany)

Abstract
We investigate whether individuals’ self-stated privacy behavior is correlated with their reservation price for the disclosure of personal and potentially sensitive information. Our incentivized experiment has a unique setting: Information about choices with real implications could be immediately disclosed to an audience of fellow first semester students. Although we find a positive correlation between respondents’ willingness to accept (WTA) disclosure of their private information and their stated privacy behavior for some models, this correlation disappears when we change the specification of the privacy index. Independent of the privacy index chosen we find that the WTA is significantly influenced by individual responses to personal questions, as well as by different decisions to donate actual money, indicating that the willingness to protect private information depends on the delicacy of the information at stake.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jgames:v:10:y:2019:i:3:p:28-:d:245811
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/10/3/28/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/10/3/28/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schudy, Simeon & Utikal, Verena, 2017. "‘You must not know about me’—On the willingness to share personal data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 1-13.
    2. 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.
    3. Beresford, Alastair R. & Kübler, Dorothea & Preibusch, Sören, 2012. "Unwillingness to pay for privacy: A field experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 25-27.
    4. Volker Benndorf & Hans‐Theo Normann, 2018. "The Willingness to Sell Personal Data," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 120(4), pages 1260-1278, October.
    5. Leslie K. John & Alessandro Acquisti & George Loewenstein, 2011. "Strangers on a Plane: Context-Dependent Willingness to Divulge Sensitive Information," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(5), pages 858-873.
    6. 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.
    7. John A. List, 2007. "On the Interpretation of Giving in Dictator Games," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(3), pages 482-493.
    8. Simeon Schudy & Verena Utikal, 2018. "Does Imperfect Data Privacy Stop People from Collecting Personal Data?," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, March.
    9. Ghosh, Arpita & Roth, Aaron, 2015. "Selling privacy at auction," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 334-346.
    10. 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.
    11. Caleb S. Fuller, 2019. "Is the market for digital privacy a failure?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 180(3), pages 353-381, September.
    12. 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.
    13. Bohm, Peter & Linden, Johan & Sonnegard, Joakim, 1997. "Eliciting Reservation Prices: Becker-DeGroot-Marschak Mechanisms vs. Markets," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 107(443), pages 1079-1089, July.
    14. Janice Y. Tsai & Serge Egelman & Lorrie Cranor & Alessandro Acquisti, 2011. "The Effect of Online Privacy Information on Purchasing Behavior: An Experimental Study," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 22(2), pages 254-268, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. Svenja Mohr & Janis Cloos, 2021. "Acceptance of Data Sharing in Smartphone Apps from Key Industries of the Digital Transformation: A Representative Population Survey for Germany," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202102, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    3. Cloos, Janis, 2021. "Employer Review Platforms – Do the Rating Environment and Platform Design affect the Informativeness of Reviews? Theory, Evidence, and Suggestions," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 32(3), pages 152-181.

    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. 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.
    2. Ackfeld, Viola & Güth, Werner, 2023. "Personal information disclosure under competition for benefits: Is sharing caring?," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 1-32.
    3. 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.
    4. 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).
    5. 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.
    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. 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.
    8. In'acio B'o & Li Chen & Rustamdjan Hakimov, 2023. "Strategic Responses to Personalized Pricing and Demand for Privacy: An Experiment," Papers 2304.11415, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2024.
    9. Yoan Hermstrüwer & Stephan Dickert, 2013. "Tearing the Veil of Privacy Law: An Experiment on Chilling Effects and the Right to Be Forgotten," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2013_15, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    10. 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).
    11. Caleb S. Fuller, 2019. "Is the market for digital privacy a failure?," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 180(3), pages 353-381, September.
    12. 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.
    13. Fehrenbach, David & Herrando, Carolina, 2021. "The effect of customer-perceived value when paying for a product with personal data: A real-life experimental study," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 222-232.
    14. Maciej Sobolewski & Michał Paliński, 2017. "How much consumers value on-line privacy? Welfare assessment of new data protection regulation (GDPR)," Working Papers 2017-17, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    15. Alisa Frik & Luigi Mittone, 2016. "Factors Influencing the Perceived Websites' Privacy Trustworthiness and Users' Purchase Intentions," CEEL Working Papers 1609, Cognitive and Experimental Economics Laboratory, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    16. Michael Kummer & Patrick Schulte, 2019. "When Private Information Settles the Bill: Money and Privacy in Google’s Market for Smartphone Applications," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(8), pages 3470-3494, August.
    17. Morlok, Tina & Matt, Christian & Hess, Thomas, 2017. "Privatheitsforschung in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften: Entwicklung, Stand und Perspektiven," Working Papers 1/2017, University of Munich, Munich School of Management, Institute for Information Systems and New Media.
    18. Jacopo Arpetti & Antonio Iovanella, 2020. "Towards more effective consumer steering via network analysis," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 359-380, December.
    19. Chanchai Phonthanukitithaworn & Carmine Sellitto, 2022. "A Willingness to Disclose Personal Information for Monetary Reward: A Study of Fitness Tracker Users in Thailand," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    20. Simeon Schudy & Verena Utikal, 2018. "Does Imperfect Data Privacy Stop People from Collecting Personal Data?," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-23, March.

    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:gam:jgames:v:10:y:2019:i:3:p:28-:d:245811. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.