Customer Privacy : The Effects of Herding Behaviour, Disclosure Reciprocity and Question Sequence on Voluntary Information Disclosures

The paper examines how different question presentation techniques influence respondents’ voluntary disclosure of private information. It focuses on the effects of three factors in questionnaire design namely comparative nature (Acquisti et al., 2012) dyadic relationships (Zimmer et al., 2010), and question sequence (Moon, 2000). After a pre-test study, a main 3x3x3 between-subjects, quasi-experiment generating 27 conditions was utilised, with each condition reflecting a unique question presentation technique. 1276 UK participants were recruited and randomly assigned to each condition for the measurement of actual disclosure (as opposed to intended disclosure). Results indicate that an ascending order of privacy invasiveness in questionnaires maximises divulgence along with reasoned disclosure reciprocity and herding-inducing conditions. Combined effects facilitating further information disclosure were also recorded giving rise to theoretical and managerial implications. This represents an expeditionary attempt to examine simultaneously the individual and combined effects of the three factors identified above on voluntary disclosure