Social media disclosure: maximizing versus satisficing effects on default preferences

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Purpose In light of increasing public concern over social media privacy breaches, this study aims to unveil the context-dependent and individual-specific nature of social media disclosure decisions. In particular, this paper aims to examine the disclosure choices of maximizers and satisficers in the presence of privacy setting defaults on social networking sites (SNSs). Design/methodology/approach Data are collected through an online scenario-based experiment with 200 Mechanical Turk participants. The study uses a 2 (Privacy setting default: No Sharing [“Only Me”] vs. Public Sharing [“Everyone”]) × 2 (Decision mindset: maximizing vs. satisficing) between-subject design. Findings Analyzing responses using ordered logistic regression models, this paper found a general tendency toward default settings, with maximizers exhibiting a stronger default preference than satisficers. For instance, maximizers were eight times more likely, and satisficers were only three times more likely to choose “Everyone” in the presence of the “Everyone” (vs. “Only Me”) default when deciding who can post on their private page. The perceived level of privacy risk further shaped satisficers and maximizers’ preferences. Originality/value This study explores the impact of decision mindset on SNS privacy settings. It demonstrates that decision mindset moderates default preferences, revealing that maximizers show a higher default preference than satisficers. The research also highlights the interplay between default preferences and the compromise effect, contributing to the understanding of cognitive biases in privacy decisions. This paper offers insights for better privacy management and education strategies.