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How digital natives make their self-disclosure decisions: a cross-cultural comparison

Zilong Liu (School of Management Science and Engineering, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China)
Xuequn Wang (School of Engineering and Information Technology, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia)
Jun Liu (School of Management Science and Engineering, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China)

Information Technology & People

ISSN: 0959-3845

Article publication date: 16 July 2018

Issue publication date: 19 June 2019

1168

Abstract

Purpose

Digital natives have become significant users of social network sites (SNSs); therefore, their disclosed personal information can be misused by SNS providers and/or other users. The purpose of this paper is to understand how digital natives make their self-disclosure decisions on SNSs, as well as whether the concept of culture can still be relevant to digital natives.

Design/methodology/approach

The hypotheses were tested with survey data collected from the USA and China.

Findings

The results show that trust in SNSs and trust in SNS users are positively related to social rewards. Social rewards are positively related to intention to self-disclose, while privacy risk is positively related to privacy concerns. Further, culture significantly moderates the relationship between trust and social rewards.

Research limitations/implications

The study clarifies the effects of different types of trust on privacy in the context of SNSs. Further, the study shows the effects of culture when digital natives make self-disclosure decisions.

Practical implications

SNS providers also need to focus on different types of trust when operating in different cultural contexts. Further, SNS providers expanding their markets should emphasize social rewards to increase the likelihood of self-disclosure.

Originality/value

The results show that while culture can still be helpful to explain digital natives’ trust beliefs, digital natives have started to converge regarding their perceptions about privacy concerns and self-disclosure.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the grant of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos 71771040, 71301021, 71431002; 71672023) and internal grant from School of Engineering and Information Technology, Murdoch University. The second author deals with the contribution. The first two authors contribute equally.

Citation

Liu, Z., Wang, X. and Liu, J. (2019), "How digital natives make their self-disclosure decisions: a cross-cultural comparison", Information Technology & People, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 538-558. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-10-2017-0339

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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