A privacy calculus model perspective that explains why parents sharent

ABSTRACT

Parents sharing children’s information online without permission has posed a threat to children’s privacy and identity safety. While previous studies on sharenting have employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches to explore factors that influence parents’ engagement in sharenting behaviors, there is still a need for a formative theoretical model to explain the underlying mechanism. Drawing on a rich body of sharenting and privacy literature, this study employs the privacy calculus model to investigate what factors explain parents’ sharenting behaviors by collecting data from 500 parents. Results show that privacy concerns and privacy self-efficacy have positive relationships with sharenting behaviors, whereas self-presentation has a negative relationship with sharenting. The results indicate that parents who have more confidence in privacy knowledge and protection are more aware of the potential risks, more confident in the effectiveness of protection measures, and more likely to sharent. Limitations and implications for social media companies and parents are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Sharenting
• privacy calculus model
• privacy concerns
• children
• parents
• information disclosure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Michigan State University.

Notes on contributors

Zhao Peng

Dr. Zhao Peng is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism at Emerson College. Peng studies data visualization practices, online privacy literacy, computational journalism, and topic modeling. She uses both quantitative and qualitative approaches to address questions such as how communication scientists can more effectively present their findings including how communication practitioners may apply DEIA knowledge in data visualizations. She also researches how news audiences engage, perceive, and consume algorithmic media and how to design campaign messages to improve parents’ and children’s privacy literacy. Dr. Peng received her Ph.D. from the Michigan State University School of Journalism and possesses a master’s degree in Statistics.