CCE Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems (DISS)

Department

College of Computing and Engineering

Advisor

Ling Wang

Committee Member

Laurie Dringus

Committee Member

Yair Levy

Keywords

Information Disclosure, Information Privacy, Location Sharing, Mobile Applications, Warnings

Abstract

Smartphones and mobile applications have become all but ubiquitous in society. These applications provide a plethora of functions both in standalone and network configurations. Many of these popular applications utilize Location-Based Services (LBS) to deliver value to the user. Whether for navigation, transportation or social interactions, sharing information is essential when using these applications. While LBS applications provide various benefits, the sharing of location data also creates significant privacy risks. In many cases, users are unaware of the real risks and continue to share their location data in exchange for the benefits the application provides.

The problem identified in this study was the continued disclosure of sensitive information by users of LBS applications despite the privacy risks. Given the information disclosure problem, the goal of the study was to assess how the benefits offered by LBS applications relate to the user’s decision to share their location information. The specific focus was on the social and utilitarian benefits offered to Android users by LBS applications. Grounded in the privacy calculus theory, there were four research questions posed. These questions, and their associated hypotheses examined the relationships between benefits, risks, warnings and demographic attributes with location disclosure.

An Android application named In Di Know was used to collect data from 1257 participants from Jamaica. This data was analyzed using a binary logistic regression model. It was found that utilitarian benefits seemed to be associated with more location disclosure than social benefits. The unauthorized sharing of location information seemed to result in less location disclosure by participants. However, neither the benefit nor risk relationship was statistically significant. Participants who received explicit warnings disclosed their location significantly less than those who were not explicitly warned. Regarding demographics, age did not have a significant relationship with location disclosure. On the other hand, both education and gender had significant relationships with location disclosure. This study contributes to the improved understanding of actual location disclosure behavior by people in a developing country. It also highlights implications for developers of mobile applications and how privacy warnings are presented. Additionally, researchers may be guided by the research design and data collection methods employed by this study of actual behavior. Future research may examine different mobile platforms, benefits, risks and demographic factors, which may also impact the disclosure of sensitive information. Those results may later be juxtaposed with this study to further advance the understanding of information disclosure behavior and information privacy.

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