A study of the effect of social trust, trust in social networking services, and sharing attitude, on two dimensions of personal information sharing behavior

Although social networking services (SNS) are among the most important means of sharing and communication in today’s virtual world, little work has been done to explain the personal information-sharing behavior of SNS users in detail. This study tries to investigate the dimensions of personal information-sharing behavior of SNS users and to find important factors affecting their sharing behavior. In terms of the width and depth of sharing personal information, we distinguish two important dimensions of personal information-sharing behavior—i.e., sharing regularity and sharing density. As a width dimension of sharing behavior, sharing regularity refers to the frequency of sharing personal information with other SNS users, and as a depth dimension of sharing behavior, sharing density deals with the degree of personal information sharing with others. Using a theoretical lens from the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), we propose a research model of the two dimensions of personal information-sharing behavior, which also includes attitude toward sharing, social trust, and trust in a social networking service. The study finds that social trust and trust in the SNS have a significant effect on SNS users’ attitude toward sharing, which in turn strongly influences the two dimensions of personal information-sharing behavior. The implications of the study for research and practice will be discussed with future directions.