The privacy calculus contextualized: The influence of affordances

Abstract When deciding what to disclose online, social network site users weigh benefits against risks—for example, expectations of social support versus privacy concerns. Users are also influenced by a social network site's affordances. In this study, we applied the privacy calculus model to investigate whether and how affordances affect self-disclosure. Specifically, we examined N = 128 users' reactions to the affordance of association, which was embedded in two features in a 2 × 2 experimental design. Our mock-up social network site either did or did not contain cues about (a) the number of other users disclosing and (b) their similarity to the individual participant. Results showed that individual self-disclosure was slightly and significantly related to users' expectations of support and privacy concerns. Other users' disclosure and their similarity increased self-disclosure. The effect of similarity was partially mediated by expectations of support and privacy concerns. Code and data can be found at https://osf.io/8bsem .

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