Information Disclosure
and the Online Customer
Relationship
Bruce Forman
Brian Whitworth
Information Disclosure


Online purchasing is an increasingly significant
part of trade
The online disclosure of personal information
(like name, address, credit card) is critical to
online trade


To purchase online, one must disclose personal data
People are often unwilling to disclose personal
information online for various reasons (privacy)
Determinants of Disclosure

Two reasons to disclose are:
Rational Utility: There is a physical benefit to
disclosure, e.g. in order to have a product
shipped you must give your address
 Social Utility: There is a social benefit to
disclosure, e.g. one may gain a friend or
become part of a group

Rational Utility Models 1


Administrative Model
 Expected (Gain/Loss) = Probability (G/L) *
Magnitude (G/L)
 Decision-makers finite cognitive ability and
limited information leads to satisficing
Question: Why would anyone ever disclose
anything unless there was a direct gain?
Yet people do.
Rational Utility Models 2

Social Information Processing
 Plain text cues transmit at a slower rate than
richer channels such as voice
 Predicts online relationships should be slow to
develop
 Yet online interactions can achieve higher
levels of intimacy/disclosure than face-to-face,
and often disclose from the beginning of the
interaction.
Example - Privacy contract
Gives customer risk information
 They are being observed
How their data will be used
Who will be able to access data
How long data will be kept
Any consequences

Assumes rational risk analysis


Yet 70-80% of people don’t read privacy contracts!
May be using marks like the TrustE symbol as a
community warrantee
Social Penetration Model
Relationships involve a turn-based process
of mutual self-disclosure
 They progress from superficial to deeper:

Mutual disclosure
 Mutual understanding
 Intimacy


Reciprocal disclosure – I disclose because
you disclose, and you disclose because I do

Hence the value of initial self-disclosure
Reciprocal disclosure
Disclosure by A
Understanding by B
Understanding by A
Disclosure by B
Reasons to disclose - summary

Include
 Rational risk/benefit assessment
(as in a privacy contract)

Personal relationship development
(customer relationship)

Group trustworthiness recommendations
(like the TrustE symbol)

The first two are affected by the type of
personal information
Type of personal information - What “self” is disclosed?
Type
Physical
Definition
Physical Being: In
physical world that
can be seen, touched
and heard
Examples
Possible harm
Home address
Work address
Photo
Genetic data
Physical:
Property Damage
Harassment
Stalking
Community
Community being: In
community records
and documents
Social Security #
Birth record
Student ID#
Immigration #
Marriage details
Reputation:
Criminal record
Embarrassment
Expulsion
Surveillance
Financial
Economic being: In
bank and insurance
records
Credit card
Signature
Passwords
Financial:
Credit theft
Identity theft
Interpersonal
Social being: In the
connections between
people (email and
phone lists).
Home/Work/Cell
phone
Email address
Home page site
Online persona
Communication:
Telemarketing
Obscene calls
Being ostracized
Spam
Preliminary study
To define a baseline for how people disclose
different types of information
 Participants asked what personal
information they would disclose in a
hypothetical online bulletin board

Name
Work Email
Home Phone
Cell Phone
Personal Email
Work Phone
Home Address
Photograph
Results
Name
Persons Work
email
email
Work
phone
Home
phone
Home Cell
address phone
Photo
51%
41%
35%
10%
8%
6%
41%
6%
P < 0.001
 Disclosure seems to depend on degree of
risk plus probability of risk.

Future work

2x2 study of
Risk declaration (privacy vs no privacy
contract)
 Risk compensation (Site administrator
provides self-photo and, physical address)
Need to control for community symbols like
TrustE that suggest community approval
 Note the TrustE symbol says nothing about the
quality of the privacy contract.


Discussion


Perceived online risk affects disclosure and trade
Current online trade is lower than it should be



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Because of perceived online risk
Disclosure type affects degree of disclosure
Rational risk models of disclosure are incomplete
Social relationships reduce perceived social risk
Current interactions affect future interactions
Cheating jeopardizes relationship and all future gains.

If online traders disclose personal information like
self- photo/address, customers are more likely to
trust and trade