The Impact of Personal Dispositions on Privacy and Trust in Disclosing Health Information Online

Privacy issues are major concerns in disclosing sensitive personal information such as health-related information. This study investigates the impact of personal dispositions on forming privacy concern and trust in context of disclosing personal health information online, based on utility theory and prospect theory. The study is among the first to provide a comprehensive list of constructs related to the personal dispositions in this context. The conceptual model shows health status, personality traits, culture, prior privacy invasions and experience with the website as salient constructs, which form individuals’ personal dispositions in their encounter with online requests for personal health information. Data were collected using a lab experiment. The results show that personal dispositions have significant impacts on factors that determine privacy concern, trust, and intention to disclose personal health information online. This work contributes to the research in health information privacy concern based on utility and prospect theories and sheds some light on the role of culture in the examination of privacy-trust constructs. Furthermore, the results of this study could be of use for web-based healthcare providers and other health-related websites, which collect personal information from their clients online.