WILLINGNESS TO DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION: A MULTIDIMENSIONAL DEVELOPMENT THEORY PERSPECTIVE
Health information technologies (HITs) enable healthcare providers to store comprehensive healthcare consumer records electronically and allow information exchange between healthcare consumers and providers. While recent years have seen significant growth in the assimilation of HIT among healthcare providers and consumers, concerns over the privacy of health information persist. Research suggests that 66% of healthcare consumers have information privacy concerns over the electronic exchange of their health information. Further, healthcare consumers with information privacy concerns are three times more likely to withhold information from their physician, which can lead to severe consequences such as increased medical costs, medical errors, undesired health outcomes, and diminished care. Extensive IS information privacy literature has primarily relied on investigations into the privacy calculus framework weighing the risks of disclosing versus the benefits of disclosing. Despite its popularity in information systems research, the privacy calculus framework is only one sub-dimension of the original multidimensional development theory (MDT) that explains how developmental and environmental factors influence individuals’ privacy perceptions and subsequent privacy behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of the MDT’s three dimensions – the self-ego dimension, the environmental dimension, and the interpersonal dimension – on willingness to disclose personal health information in a healthcare setting. From an academic perspective, this study extends information privacy literature by considering antecedents to the privacy calculus framework in the context of the overarching MDT. From a practical standpoint, this study's findings will inform health care providers, policymakers, and privacy designers of the significance of proactively bearing in mind other significant factors when desiring greater willingness to disclose from healthcare consumers while also uncovering factors which prompt healthcare consumers to become active participants in their treatment.
Business, Business Administration, Management, and Operations
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