Share or Protect: Understanding the Interplay of Trust, Privacy Concerns, and Data Sharing Purposes in Health and Well-Being Apps

The popularity of health and well-being applications is on the rise. These applications often collect and process personal and sensitive information about individuals for different purposes. Nonetheless, users’ freedom of choice around protection and sharing may be compromised, for example, by forwarding such information to third parties without user awareness or control, especially with current developments in AI-based complex data processing technologies. Despite the popularity of health and well-being applications, the purpose of sharing and its interplay with trust, privacy concerns, and their antecedents is seldom explored. The present article addresses this gap by conducting an online study (N = 315), which shows that, generally, people’s sharing preferences depend on their trust and privacy concerns. However, the findings indicate potential differences between male and female participants considering sharing information for the greater good, such as scientific research. Our findings are discussed in light of sociocultural and social role theories of prosocial behavior and previous research. Considering the growing interest in building usable infrastructures for data sharing and user empowerment, practical implications for designers and policymakers are highlighted.