Privacy Statements, Information Sharing, and Web Purchasing

Each year, billions of dollars in online spending are lost due to consumers’ fears about information security. Many studies are concerned with methods reduce perceived risk in online transactions. Of the studies that evaluate the effect of structural assurances, few use actual or simulated purchasing scenarios. This study uses a simulated purchasing scenario where participants were shown either a graphical privacy statement or a textual statement. They were then surveyed on what personal information they would share and their intent to purchase from the website. The results from this sample led to the conclusion that willingness to share increased amounts of information did not result in increased intent to purchase. In addition, the simple graphical statement read did not increase purchasing intent. Finally, there was no moderating effect of statement type on willingness to share information.