Disclosing Data for the Planet: Understanding Consumers’ Privacy-Related Decision-Making for Sustainable Purposes
(A2025-126120)

AUTHORS

Jessica Knauß, Wiesbaden Business School and Goethe University Frankfurt; Margarita Bidler, Hochschule Pforzheim; Sandra Ullrich, University of Göttingen

ABSTRACT

Today, consumers often disclose personal data in commercial settings to receive benefits like financial rewards or personalization. Also, non-commercial initiatives like climate projects rely on citizen data to analyze and address climate change. However, the benefits of data disclosure in sustainability efforts are less immediate and tangible, challenging traditional risk-benefit trade-off analysis. An online scenario experiment (N = 134) reveals that collective efficacy, activating altruistic and utilitarian benefit perceptions, shapes disclosure intentions for sustainability purposes. This study contributes to privacy calculus theory and sustainable behavior literature by introducing a decision-making model tailored to sustainable data-gathering contexts. Our findings emphasize the societal challenge of motivating data sharing for sustainability initiatives, highlighting the need to link collective efficacy with actionable benefits to drive pro-environmental behavior.