The Shorter the Better? Effects of Privacy Policy Length on Online Privacy Decision-Making

Privacy policies provide Internet users with the possibility to inform themselves about websites’ usage of their disclosed personal data. Strikingly, however, most people tend not to read privacy policies because they are long and cumbersome, indicating that people do not wish to expend much (cognit...

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Published inMedia and communication (Lisboa) Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. 291 - 301
Main Authors Meier, Yannic, Schäwel, Johanna, Krämer, Nicole C.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Lisbon Cogitatio Press 01.01.2020
Cogitatio
Subjects
Between-subjects design
Computer privacy
Datenschutz
Decision making
Decision theory
Internet
Networking
online privacy
Perception
Policies
Privacy
privacy calculus
privacy policy
Self disclosure
social networking site
Social networks
Websites
Germany
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Summary:Privacy policies provide Internet users with the possibility to inform themselves about websites’ usage of their disclosed personal data. Strikingly, however, most people tend not to read privacy policies because they are long and cumbersome, indicating that people do not wish to expend much (cognitive) effort on reading such policies. The present study aimed to examine whether shorter privacy policies can be beneficial in informing users about a social networking site’s (SNS) privacy practices, and to investigate associations between variables relevant for privacy decision-making using one theory-based integrative model. In an online experiment, participants (N = 305) were asked to create a personal account on an SNS after being given the option to read the privacy policy. Privacy policy length and the SNS’s level of privacy were varied, creating a 2 (policy length) x 2 (level of privacy) between-subjects design. The results revealed that participants who saw short policies spent less time on reading but gained higher knowledge about the SNS’s privacy practices—due to the fact that they spent more reading time per word. Factual privacy policy knowledge was found to be an indicator for participants’ subjective privacy perception. The perception and evaluation of the specific SNS´s privacy level influenced the assessment of privacy costs and benefits. Particularly when benefits were perceived as high, self-disclosure was increased.
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ISSN:2183-2439
2183-2439
DOI:10.17645/mac.v8i2.2846