Laziness as an explanation for the privacy paradox: a longitudinal empirical investigation

Abstract

Purpose“Smart devices think you're “too lazy” to opt out of privacy defaults” was the headline of a recent news report indicating that individuals might be too lazy to stop disclosing their private information and therefore to protect their information privacy. In current privacy research, privacy concerns and self-disclosure are central constructs regarding protecting privacy. One might assume that being concerned about protecting privacy would lead individuals to disclose less personal information. However, past research has shown that individuals continue to disclose personal information despite high privacy concerns, which is commonly referred to as the privacy paradox. This study introduces laziness as a personality trait in the privacy context, asking to what degree individual laziness influences privacy issues.Design/methodology/approachAfter conceptualizing, defining and operationalizing laziness, the authors analyzed information collected in a longitudinal empirical study and evaluated the results through structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings show that the privacy paradox holds true, yet the level of laziness influences it. In particular, the privacy paradox applies to very lazy individuals but not to less lazy individuals.Research limitations/implicationsWith these results one can better explain the privacy paradox and self-disclosure behavior.Practical implicationsThe state might want to introduce laws that not only bring organizations to handle information in a private manner but also make it as easy as possible for individuals to protect their privacy.Originality/valueBased on a literature review, a clear research gap has been identified, filled by this research study.

Privacy explanations – A means to end-user trust

“…The study by Wirth et al [68] examines the extent to which individual laziness affects privacy. The results showed that individuals who are predominantly lazy are more likely to disclose their data as well as not change their privacy settings, despite the fact that changes were made to data practices.…”

The Impact of Health Information Privacy Concerns on Engagement and Payment Behaviors in Online Health Communities

“…Thus, the potential benefits of the engagement may outweigh users' privacy concerns when conducting a costbenefit analysis, which may lead them to play an active role in online communities (Debatin et al, 2009). Furthermore, personal traits may serve as a moderator when users assess the privacy threats and engagement benefits (Aivazpour and Rao, 2020;Wirth et al, 2021).…”

Dimensionalizing privacy to advance the study of digital disempowerment

“…Other factors such as perceptions of privacy risk may prove insightful to unpacking both privacy resignation and disempowerment, as the potential effects of resignation on the privacy calculus are teased out (e.g. Meier and Krämer, 2022; Wirth et al, 2018). In addition, it is important to note that overlapping conceptualizations of privacy can occupy the same socio-technical space, as is often evident in social media where individuals simultaneously engage in both vertical and horizontal privacy relationships (Quinn et al, 2019).…”