Despite users of personal IT devices perceive high risks of losing their personal data if their devices get lost or damaged, many are reluctant to use userfriendly online services (i.e., online backups) to recover from such incidents. We suggest that the reason for this denial are information privacy concerns because users need to disclose their personal files to the safeguard provider. As safeguarding services promise to reduce the IS security threat of losing data, individuals are subsequently tensed between two goals: protecting their data against loss (IS security) and their information privacy. To shed light on this goal conflict, our work builds on the theory of goal-directed behavior. Based on a quantitative online survey among 446 participants, we show that privacy concerns impede threat avoidance to prevent data loss. Comparing current users and non-users of online backup services, our results confirm that provider-related privacy concerns are significantly higher for non-users.
The spread of COVID-19 has affected all of us, be it financially, socially, or even physically. It has caused uncertainty and anxiety, which has put people into a "hot" mental state. Referred to as an empathy gap, people are assumed to make emotion-driven decisions in "hot" states compared to "cold" states, which contrasts with the normative assumption of rational decision-making in privacy research. Based on an experimental survey study among 445 participants, we investigate whether people's mental state interacts with individuals' information disclosure decision-making. We measure our research model in the context of actual health data donation, which constitutes a critical surveillance factor in the COVID-19 crisis. Thereby, we contribute to research by (1) investigating data donation behavior amid a crisis and (2) helping to explain further nuances of privacy decision-making and the importance of trust as a context-dependent driver of data donation.
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