Processing privacy information and decision-making for smartphone apps among young German smartphone users |
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Authors: | Jakob Henke Sven Joeckel |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Journalism, TU Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany;2. Seminar for Media and Communication, University of Erfurt, Erfurt, Germany |
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Abstract: | While privacy behaviour is generally equated with self-disclosure, other forms of behaviour that potentially infringe an individual’s privacy, such as downloading an app, are being neglected by research. We seek to fill this gap by modelling app decision-making within a dual-process model of the attitude–behaviour relationship and the role of privacy attitudes in two kinds of information processing: (1) spontaneous, heuristic processes that rely on automated attitude activation and (2) elaborate, cognitive processes that rely on behavioural intentions to guide behaviour. We used a quasi-experimental design to investigate app decision-making processes for N?=?89 participants in N?=?254 decision-making cases. Participants were asked to provide information on their actions after downloading three apps on their smartphones over a 2-week period. We could identify two distinct types of information processing and found support for attitude activation and, to a lesser degree, intentions as requirements for the influence of privacy attitudes on app decision-making. |
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Keywords: | Privacy smartphone apps MODE mental effort heuristics dual process |
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