Abstract
People typically enhance their online personas by sharing favourable personal information. Nevertheless, sharing of unfavourable information about oneself still occurs and is essential in some online contexts (e.g. allowing negative reviews). It remains unclear why people reveal potentially damaging information. We conducted an online experiment ((Formula presented.)) to explore the effects of feedback properties and individual characteristics on online information sharing in two contexts (social and socioeconomic) where personal ratings are essential. We allowed users to conceal their personal rating if it dropped below a threshold. The context was the primary determinant of the threshold users chose. Control availability and feedback content triggered additional considerations and caused some users to change their (non)disclosure choices. However, many users relied on their priors (experience, assumptions) rather than on new information. Our findings show how people may fail to identify the impact of nondisclosure, which may signal undesirable information to others. These findings challenge the reliance on holding users solely accountable for their ‘informedness’ vis-à-vis disclosure of their personal information.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4125-4149 |
| Number of pages | 25 |
| Journal | Behaviour & Information Technology |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue number | 16 |
| Early online date | 29 Jan 2024 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 29 Jan 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Research programs
- ESSB PA
- ESSB SOC