Evaluation of willingness for sharing personal mobile data according to benefits

Abstract

Currently, we live in a pandemic context, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. If technology was already part of the daily life of a large part of the population, in this context, it came to be accentuated and to identify itself as a possible tool to help control and combat this virus. Mobile applications have been positioning themselves more sharply in the market and a range of them require the user to share their personal geolocation data. This type of personal data is associated with benefits and risks, and the motivation to share them in different areas of activity is an innovative investigation. Being the objective of this research to evaluate the acceptance of sharing of personal geolocation data, according to benefits perceived by mobile application users; a qualitative study using multi-methods was designed to obtain more consistent results. Initially, an exploratory study was conducted, and an online questionnaire was subsequently launched. The sample made it possible to analyse the responses of residents in Portugal. Through the results of the research, we can conclude that the motivation to share personal geolocation data changed depending on the proposed area, and the health area was the one that was evaluated with greater willingness to share, followed by the transport area and leisure area. Additionally, when a specific benefit is proposed to the user, in all areas there is an increase in the willingness to share their personal geolocation data. The current context of Covid-19 impacted the willingness to share, given that a significant part of the sample claims to have more desire to share geolocation data in the current context than before it.

Date of Award	14 Jul 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Jorge Julião (Supervisor) & Luís Manuel Ventura Serrano (Co-Supervisor)