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

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.