How do brand policy updates turn into transgressions and impact consumers’ continuance intentions?

Abstract

The concept of the digital economy is being implemented more quickly nowadays. Digital services are one of the pillars of the digital economy. The consumers of those services and their information-sharing intentions play a crucial role since the sustainable consumer information flow fuels big data. From a marketing perspective, as a digital service brand, this study examines the roles of privacy concerns and brand transgression interaction effects on consumers' intentions to continue using instant messaging services. Because realistic privacy risks have been difficult to replicate using experimental techniques, this study focused on one of the most well-known digital service brands' most recent violations of a privacy policy update. Based on survey data from 422 related digital service consumers, the results show that brand transgression severity increases consumers' privacy concerns. Privacy concerns are a significant indirect antecedent to the continuation of digital services. Consumers' trust, belief, and perceived risk mediate the relationship between privacy concerns and information disclosure intention. And in digital services, information disclosure intention is an important factor that affects consumers' intentions to continue using this service.