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1. Introduction
Lexi Larson had just secured a dream role with a tech company in Denver, Colorado, along with an increase in salary from $70k to $90k. Delighted with the new career move, Lexi posted a video on TikTok sharing details of her salary. Her employer soon discovered her salary disclosures. Lexi was fired after two weeks. Her employer informed her that posting sensitive company information to her TikTok account was a significant security concern (Lisitza, 2022).
The privacy paradox refers to the situation where people assert that they are concerned about their privacy, but still willingly disclose sensitive information about themselves online (Barnes, 2006; Kokolakis, 2017; Norberg et al., 2007) especially on social networking services (SNS). One report reveals 84% of SNS users post personal information to their accounts every week (Tessian, 2021). Such actions leave people vulnerable to identity theft and financial attack from hackers, commercial manipulation by profit seeking corporations, and coercive persecution by governments (Zuboff, 2021). As our opening vignette also shows, self-disclosing on SNS can also seriously harm one’s career. Indeed, almost 90% of employers stated they have turned down a job candidate because of something they posted on SNS (McKeon, 2020).
Disclosing personal information on SNS can have grave consequences for individuals (Acquisti and Grossklags, 2005; Neves et al., 2023). Yet, it is well established that a high perception of privacy risk is an insufficient motivator for people to refrain from disclosing sensitive information about themselves on SNS (Dienlin et al., 2021; Kokolakis, 2017; Wirth et al., 2022). It is important to society that we understand why this privacy paradox exists. Doing so will inform the development of interventions which allow people to enjoy the benefits afforded by SNS, but not expose them to privacy attacks. However, the paradox is complex. Expensive education and information campaigns are unlikely to translate into safer SNS disclosure practices, as people are already concerned about their privacy online and aware of the potential dangers.
The privacy paradox literature is rich, yet there is a lack of consensus as to why the problem exists, or even if it exists at all (Dienlin et al., 2021; Solove, 2021). In this study, we aim to move the debate forward by examining...