The Effect of Privacy Fatigue on Privacy Decision-Making Behavior

With the rapid growth of information communication technology, internet users face constantly demands to manage privacy setting and make decisions on whether to disclose privacy data in the digital environment. Such privacy-related decisions and actions are heavily influenced by users’ level of trust, privacy concerns, perceived risks, and perceived benefits. One recently recognized factor that may impair privacy behaviors is privacy fatigue. This study will employ a within-subjects design with eye-tracking devices in which participants complete the same online decision-making task. Additionally, potential covariates, including privacy concern and digital privacy literacy, will be controlled for. We expect that higher level of baseline privacy fatigue will reveal poorer privacy decision-making outcomes, which will be represented by more frequent acceptance of online cookies. Moreover, we predict that participants’ pupil dilation, a physiological index of cognitive effort, will decrease, and privacy fatigue levels will increase over the course of the online decision-making task.