Customer information sharing with e-vendors:The roles of incentives and trust

The collection of personal information from customers is a necessity for Internet merchants who need such information to effectively provide service to customers. However the ease with which data can be acquired and disseminated across the Web, and the peculiarities of the electronic environment, have led to growing concerns from many potential customers over disclosing personal information to e-service providers. Self-disclosure theories suggest that consumers' willingness to disclose personal information is based on their assessments of the related costs, risks and benefits. In this study we experimentally manipulated initial trust and the nature of the incentive given to encourage information disclosure. We also measured actual disclosure behavior rather than just intention or attitude. One key finding was that subjects did not claim to be more willing to provide information in the presence of incentives, but in fact their behavior indicates that they were more inclined to do so. What’s more, privacy concern, commitment towards mobile services and attitude towards online shopping act like antecedents for a willingness to share attitudinal measure but are not in fact diagnostic of actual behavior.