Paper Number
ECIS2026-1170
Paper Type
CRP
Abstract
An increasing number of prosocial initiatives rely on data donations, yet participation remains low despite societal benefits. Drawing on privacy calculus and prosocial behavior research, we examine how request sequencing influences data donation decisions through a pre-registered experiment (N=482) with real Duolingo data requests. While overall compliance remained similar across single, concurrent, and step-down presentations, sequential strategies significantly reduced low-effort compliance through two mechanisms: concurrent presentation increased cognitive load, while sequential presentation elevated perceived information sensitivity, a contamination effect where exposure to high-effort requests amplifies privacy concerns for subsequent requests. Trait-level privacy concerns negatively predict donation, while warm-glow motivation (but not trait altruism) positively predicts compliance. Platform usage frequency increases donation likelihood, whereas intensity decreased it. This study contributes by uncovering the phenomenon of information sensitivity contamination, challenging the transferability of classic prosocial theory to privacy-sensitive digital contexts, and distinguishing warm-glow from altruistic motivations in data donation behavior.
Recommended Citation
Hartl, Philipp and Manzke, Leonie, "Information Sensitivity Contamination In Sequential Data Donation Requests" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 1.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/security/security/1
Information Sensitivity Contamination In Sequential Data Donation Requests
An increasing number of prosocial initiatives rely on data donations, yet participation remains low despite societal benefits. Drawing on privacy calculus and prosocial behavior research, we examine how request sequencing influences data donation decisions through a pre-registered experiment (N=482) with real Duolingo data requests. While overall compliance remained similar across single, concurrent, and step-down presentations, sequential strategies significantly reduced low-effort compliance through two mechanisms: concurrent presentation increased cognitive load, while sequential presentation elevated perceived information sensitivity, a contamination effect where exposure to high-effort requests amplifies privacy concerns for subsequent requests. Trait-level privacy concerns negatively predict donation, while warm-glow motivation (but not trait altruism) positively predicts compliance. Platform usage frequency increases donation likelihood, whereas intensity decreased it. This study contributes by uncovering the phenomenon of information sensitivity contamination, challenging the transferability of classic prosocial theory to privacy-sensitive digital contexts, and distinguishing warm-glow from altruistic motivations in data donation behavior.
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