Research Insight | The Effects of Cultural Differences on Consumers’ Willingness to Share Personal Information

The Research

The authors use multilevel modeling on data collected from 15,045 consumers across 24 countries, finding that national culture has a direct effect on consumers’ willingness to share personal information (WTS). For example, consumers from countries that rank high on Power Distance are more likely to share personal information with firms. The authors demonstrate that national culture systematically moderates the relationships of both privacy concerns and perceived benefits with WTS.

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What You Need to Know

International cultural differences considerably affect consumers’ willingness to share personal information with firms.
Marketers and managers need to consider these cultural differences and their effects on consumers’ willingness to share personal information when collecting consumer information.

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Abstract

Consumer information is an increasingly valuable resource in the digitally interconnected modern world. Globally, the number of firms collecting and exploiting consumer information to optimize their marketing efforts is increasing rapidly. The authors determine how four cultural dimensions—power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation—affect consumers’ willingness to share their personal information with firms (WTS). The authors empirically test the direct effect of national culture on WTS, as well as its moderating effect on the link between WTS and two of its key drivers, privacy concerns and perceived benefits. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the authors develop a conceptual framework and test it using multilevel modeling on data from 15,045 consumers across 24 countries. The empirical findings demonstrate that national culture directly affects WTS and moderates the effects of both privacy concerns and perceived benefits on WTS. These results highlight the need for managers and marketers to consider international cultural differences when collecting consumer information.

Christopher Schumacher, Felix Eggers, and Peter C. Verhoef (2023), “The Effects of Cultural Differences on Consumers’ Willingness to Share Personal Information,” Journal of Interactive Marketing, 58 (1), 72–89.