Study: Small Changes in Digital Platforms’ Requests for Personal Information Can Change Online Users’ Behavior, Boost Disclosure

Many online services and digital platforms (e.g., online banking, health services, social media platforms, e-commerce platforms) require users to complete an initial sign-up procedure, providing information like their name and email address. Requests to reveal this information raise privacy concerns and increase the likelihood that users will abandon signing up because of their fear of sharing personal data.

In a new study, researchers tested whether two structural mechanisms in sign-up procedures boost participants’ willingness to disclose personal information. They found that the mechanisms increased online users’ motivation to disclose private information during sign-up. Implementing simple changes in the way an information-disclosure task is designed can change users’ behavior and increase information disclosure, the study concluded.

Conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva, the study is published in the International Journal of E-Commerce.

Providing personally identifiable information is typically a prerequisite for becoming an active user on a platform, but it creates challenges for both sides: Users are worried about security breaches and companies face the loss of potential users due to attrition.

“The risk of information disclosure is one of the most prominent online threats,” says Naama Ilany-Tzur, assistant teaching professor in the Information Systems Program at Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College, who led the study. “Studies have found that more than 80% of users choose to withhold information and give up on the sign-up process due to privacy concerns.”

In this study, researchers identified two structural mechanisms in sign-up procedures—sequencing the information items in an ascending order of privacy intrusion and presenting the information on multiple pages—thought to boost users’ willingness to disclose personal information. The effects of these mechanisms on information disclosure are theoretically anchored in familiar cognitive biases.

To test whether these effects could be achieved, researchers drew on the foot-in-the-door theory, which suggests that people can be induced to do something they would rather not do by getting them to comply with a smaller request to which they are more likely to agree. They tested their hypotheses in two online field experiments—one involving sign-ups for online banking services, the other using a raffle scenario on a Facebook page.

In both experiments, the foot-in-the-door mechanisms boosted users’ willingness to disclose personal information during sign-up procedures. This means that relatively subtle structural changes in how requests are presented can significantly affect users’ information disclosure behavior and subsequently, can have effects on service providers’ ability to meet their business objectives.

However, the study’s findings also have negative implications in terms of cyber security: If information disclosure can be easily manipulated through simple changes, policymakers and the public should be aware of the possibility that this vulnerability will be exploited with little effort—especially since the study also found that users’ ability to distinguish benevolent from malicious digital actors was weak. This in turn suggests that more effective protection strategies against such simple manipulations may be needed.

Given the nature of online interactions, the authors say their findings may be relevant not only to information disclosure and online privacy behavior, but also to other online decision-making scenarios, such as those involved with e-commerce and social media.

“The primary contribution of our work lies in deepening our descriptive understanding of information disclosure behavior, while the practical significance lies in enhancing our  comprehension of the structural triggers that could be effective in data solicitation,” explains Lior Fink, professor of industrial engineering and management at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva, who coauthored the study.

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Summarized from an article in the International Journal of E-Commerce, Foot-in-the-Door Mechanisms for Increasing Information Disclosure, by Ilany-Tzur, N (Carnegie Mellon University), and Fink, L (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Beer-Sheva). Copyright 2025 Informa UK Limited. All rights reserved.

About Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy
The Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy is home to two internationally recognized schools: the School of Information Systems and Management and the School of Public Policy and Management. Heinz College leads at the intersection of people, policy, and technology, with expertise in analytics, artificial intelligence, arts & entertainment, cybersecurity, health care, and public policy. The college offers top-ranked undergraduate, graduate, and executive education certificates in these areas. Our programs are ranked #1 in Information Systems, #1 in Information and Technology Management, #8 in Public Policy Analysis, and #1 in Cybersecurity by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit www.heinz.cmu.edu.