Will I or will I not? Explaining the willingness to disclose personal self-tracking data to a health insurance company

Abstract

Users of digital self-tracking devices increasingly benefit from multiple services related to their self-tracking data. Vice versa, new digital as well as “offline” service providers, such as health insurance companies, depend on the users’ willingness to disclose personal data to be able to offer new services. Whereas previous research mostly investigated the willingness to disclose data in the context of social media, e-commerce and smartphone apps, the aim of our research is to analyze the influence of the privacy calculus of personal risks and benefits on the willingness to disclose highly personal and confidential self-tracking data to health insurance companies. To do so, we develop a conceptual model based on the privacy calculus concept and validate it with a sample of 103 respondents in a scenario-based experiment using structural equation modeling. Our results reveal that privacy risks always have a negative impact on the willingness to disclose personal data, while positive effects of privacy benefits are partly depending on the data sensitivity.