How Chinese Web Users Value Their Personal Information: An Empirical Study on WeChat Users
Yaojia Tang, Luna Wang School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Luna WangSchool of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-15869105345Email luna....
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doaj-657663d575fc48d9bb4702e09b04549e2021-07-11T19:23:06ZengDove Medical PressPsychology Research and Behavior Management1179-15782021-07-01Volume 1498799966737How Chinese Web Users Value Their Personal Information: An Empirical Study on WeChat UsersTang YWang LYaojia Tang, Luna Wang School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Luna WangSchool of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-15869105345Email luna.wang@zufe.edu.cnPurpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate Chinese web users’ monetary valuation of their personal information (PI) and its psychological driving factors, and thereby promote the establishment of the PI market in China.Methods: In this study, a survey was conducted with 710 Chinese WeChat users to determine how they perceive the monetary value of their PI.Results: The survey results demonstrate that the “endowment effect” exists among Chinese web users, indicating different allocations of PI property rights may elicit distinct outcomes. The results also reveal that Chinese web users’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) is mainly driven by privacy concern and intimacy of disclosure, and their willingness-to-accept (WTA) is mainly driven by privacy concern, intimacy of disclosure and psychological ownership.Conclusion: The results imply that market players in China can use these driving factors to increase consumers’ valuation of their PI to maintain a stable user base, and a portion of users will choose paid but privacy-guaranteed services to protect their PI. Furthermore, our findings indicate that when there is a formal monetary PI market, a privacy class may emerge.Keywords: information valuation, privacy concern, psychological ownership, intimacy of disclosure, WeChat, empirical researchhttps://www.dovepress.com/how-chinese-web-users-value-their-personal-information-an-empirical-st-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-PRBMinformation valuationprivacy concernpsychological ownershipintimacy of disclosurewechatempirical research |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Tang Y Wang L |
spellingShingle |
Tang Y Wang L How Chinese Web Users Value Their Personal Information: An Empirical Study on WeChat Users Psychology Research and Behavior Management information valuation privacy concern psychological ownership intimacy of disclosure empirical research |
author_facet |
Tang Y Wang L |
author_sort |
Tang Y |
title |
How Chinese Web Users Value Their Personal Information: An Empirical Study on WeChat Users |
title_short |
How Chinese Web Users Value Their Personal Information: An Empirical Study on WeChat Users |
title_full |
How Chinese Web Users Value Their Personal Information: An Empirical Study on WeChat Users |
title_fullStr |
How Chinese Web Users Value Their Personal Information: An Empirical Study on WeChat Users |
title_full_unstemmed |
How Chinese Web Users Value Their Personal Information: An Empirical Study on WeChat Users |
title_sort |
how chinese web users value their personal information: an empirical study on wechat users |
publisher |
Dove Medical Press |
series |
Psychology Research and Behavior Management |
issn |
1179-1578 |
publishDate |
2021-07-01 |
description |
Yaojia Tang, Luna Wang School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Luna WangSchool of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-15869105345Email luna.wang@zufe.edu.cnPurpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate Chinese web users’ monetary valuation of their personal information (PI) and its psychological driving factors, and thereby promote the establishment of the PI market in China.Methods: In this study, a survey was conducted with 710 Chinese WeChat users to determine how they perceive the monetary value of their PI.Results: The survey results demonstrate that the “endowment effect” exists among Chinese web users, indicating different allocations of PI property rights may elicit distinct outcomes. The results also reveal that Chinese web users’ willingness-to-pay (WTP) is mainly driven by privacy concern and intimacy of disclosure, and their willingness-to-accept (WTA) is mainly driven by privacy concern, intimacy of disclosure and psychological ownership.Conclusion: The results imply that market players in China can use these driving factors to increase consumers’ valuation of their PI to maintain a stable user base, and a portion of users will choose paid but privacy-guaranteed services to protect their PI. Furthermore, our findings indicate that when there is a formal monetary PI market, a privacy class may emerge.Keywords: information valuation, privacy concern, psychological ownership, intimacy of disclosure, WeChat, empirical research |
topic |
information valuation privacy concern psychological ownership intimacy of disclosure empirical research |
url |
https://www.dovepress.com/how-chinese-web-users-value-their-personal-information-an-empirical-st-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-PRBM |
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