Willingness to disclose personal information via travel mobile application in China: A communicating privacy management perspective (CPM)

Information privacy has become a topic of interest in academics. Tourism is at the forefront of embracing information technology to collect data in order to create customized services. However, much attention from previous research has been devoted to this issue in the context of generic online environments, failing to recognize the use of new research contexts that encompass new aspects of traveler privacy. As a result, this research proposes a theoretical framework to investigate factors that influence user decisions on whether reveal information. The communication privacy management theory (CPM) was adopted to identify how the coordination boundary rules affect customers’ revealing of personal information. Structural equation modeling was applied to analyze data from 400 travel app users. The model was assessed for its predictive validity in its relationships with privacy concerns, risk, and disclosure willingness. This study provides a reference for service innovation of travel application marketers.