Abstract
Two sets of studies illustrate the comparative nature of disclosure behavior. The first set investigates how divulgence is affected by signals about others' readiness to divulge and shows a “herding” effect: Survey respondents are more willing to divulge sensitive information when told that previous respondents have made sensitive disclosures (Study 1a). The authors provide evidence of the process underlying this effect and rule out alternative explanations by showing that information on others' propensity to disclose affects respondents' discomfort associated with divulgence (Study 1b) but not their interpretation of the questions (Study 1c). The second set of studies investigates how divulgence is affected by the order in which inquiries of varying intrusiveness are made and suggests that divulgence is anchored by the initial questions in a survey. People are particularly likely to divulge when questions are presented in decreasing order of intrusiveness and less likely when questions are presented in increasing order (Study 2a). The authors show that the effect arises by affecting people's judgments of the intrusiveness of the inquiries (Study 2b). The effect is altered when, at the outset of the study, privacy concerns are primed (Study 2c) and when respondents are made to consider the relative intrusiveness of a different set of questions (Study 2d). This research helps illuminate how consumers' propensity to disclose is affected by continual streams of requests for personal information and by the equally unavoidable barrage of personal information about others.
Highlights
Two sets of studies illustrate the comparative nature of disclosure behavior
To predict and make sense of consumers’ reaction to modern marketing strategies, we need to understand how they respond to the continual stream of requests for personal information that is an unavoidable feature of the internet, as well as to the unavoidable barrage of personal information disclosed about others
Alternative Explanations and Study 1C Study 1A suggests that people are more likely to report that they have engaged in sensitive behaviors when they are lead to believe that others, too, have admitted to engaging in other sensitive behaviors
Summary
Two sets of studies illustrate the comparative nature of disclosure behavior. The first set investigates how divulgence is affected by signals about others’ readiness to divulge, and shows a “herding” effect: Survey respondents are more willing to divulge sensitive information when told that previous respondents have made sensitive disclosures (Study 1A). To predict and make sense of consumers’ reaction to modern marketing strategies, we need to understand how they respond to the continual stream of requests for personal information that is an unavoidable feature of the internet, as well as to the unavoidable barrage of personal information disclosed about others Beyond this narrow focus, we believe (and have designed our experiments ) that the research reported here addresses larger issues relating to consumer privacy. Online surveys often provide information on other respondents’ answers, including their propensity to answer; we study how such feedback influences subsequent responses These studies provide clues about how self-disclosure might be affected by the growing availability of friends’ and strangers’ personal information on the internet. Whereas Moon’s result could result either from reciprocity (the tendency to respond to another’s revelations with one’s own) or from herding (the tendency to conform to the norm set by others’ behavior), our results are only interpretable as a herding effect, as we focused on the impact of strangers’ revelations (with whom no interaction or reciprocity is likely) on our propensity to reveal sensitive information
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
