Biases in Social Commerce Users\u27 Rational Risk Considerations

Social commerce has emerged as a new commercial platform which uses social media features in addition to conventional commerce facilities to enhance users’ shopping experience. It thus adds a social context to the conventional online commerce platforms. Nonetheless, the effect of these social facets on social commerce users’ behaviors is not fully studied. Furthermore, current social commerce literature mainly focused on factors that drive social commerce acceptance; however, there are negative factors which may demotivate or deter the social commerce use. In this study, we suggest potential risks that may hinder users’ engagement in the social commerce platforms. Moreover, drawing upon the “risky/choice shift” logic, habit literature, and information cascade theory, we propose that social identification, habitual use, and herding behavior can skew the way social commerce users consider and weight risks in their purchasing and participation decisions

Unpacking Privacy Paradox: A Dual Process Theory Approach

Prior studies showed that some users tend to act against their stated privacy concerns (a phenomenon commonly known as privacy paradox). In this study, we adopt the dual process theory as our theoretical basis to account for conscious and unconscious modes of individual decision making processes to examine privacy paradox in order to gain an understanding of the reasons which cause inconsistency between privacy concern and information disclosure. We also posit that privacy paradox can occur due to the conscious mode (affected by bounded rationality) as well as unconscious biases

Trust conceptualized as a corporate knowledge asset

To most individuals, "trust" can be viewed as a knowledge corporate asset that may add, or rest, value to the company. The role of knowledge in achieving a competitive advantage is becoming and increasingly important management issue in all business and non-business sectors. As such, our Throughput Modeling approach indicates how six different trust behaviors can be guided, how trust decision making can be improved and made defensible, and how special problems facing individuals can be dealt with via decision-making pathways leading to an action

Addressing the \u27Failure\u27 of Informed Consent in Online Data Protection: Learning the Lessons from Behaviour-Aware Regulation

Information notice and data subject\u27s consent are the current main legal safeguards of data protection and privacy rights: they reflect individuals\u27 instances, such as self-determination and control over one\u27s own private sphere, that have been acknowledged in many jurisdictions. However, the theoretic strength of these safeguards appears frustrated by current online practices that seem suggesting to give-up with their most common form of implementation: privacy notices and request for consent. These measures are proving to be unsuccessful in increasing users\u27 awareness and in fostering a privacy protective-behaviour. As recent studies have shown, although people declare privacy concerns, their actual behaviour diverges from their statements (the privacy paradox ), as they seem to increasingly disclose personal data and to not even read privacy notices available online; eventually, the current privacy notices are not effective in regulating user\u27s data disclosure. Behaviourally informed approaches to regulatory problems, already applied to different areas of information provision and public policy, helped to clarify the reasons of similar peoples\u27 behaviour that cannot be reduced to a simplistic users do not care about privacy. Highlighting the regulatory weakness of traditional information notices, applied behavioural science has also demonstrated to be particularly effective in improving users\u27 decision-making and attaining concrete policy objectives if accompanied by ad hoc design interventions to display the relevant, salient information. As users do not read privacy policies or act in contradiction with them, other strategies might be more successful in promoting, nudging, privacy-protective behaviour. The use of innovative information notices, like salient alerts and nudges, seems to be a promising means of behavioural change also in the area of digital privacy, a possible new area of application of behavioural insights. Building on recent studies in the field ( conducted mainly in the U.S.), this paper considers new forms of privacy notices (like visceral notices), as alternative or complement to current legal (technical) measures for data protection. For the informed consent approach (or notice and choice approach) to work, it needs to be improved with welldesigned, transparent and regulated nudging system, capable to help citizens in their decision-making as regards their privacy. Without disregarding the challenges and limitations of nudging strategies in public policy in general and in the privacy area in particular, and examining their legal grounds, the paper aims also to integrate that branch of legal-policy research that see nudging methods as an effective way to gently encourage safer behaviours in the citizens.

Decision Making in the Stock Market: Incorporating Psychology with Finance

The decision-making by individual investors is usually based on their age, education, income, investment portfolio, and other demographic factors. The impact of behavioural aspect of investing is, however, often ignored. The objective of this paper is to explore the impact of behavioural factors and investor’s psychology on their decision-making, and to examine the relationship between investor’s attitude towards risk and behavioural decision-making. The research uses the literature relevant to behavioural decision-making and investor’s psychology. The research is based on the secondary data relating to investments, finance, and economics available on the Internet, previous publications of the author, and some other publications as well. The information is then integrated in order to understand the interrelationships of investor’s perception of risk, behavioural factors, and decision-making in the Indian context. Through this research, the author finds that unlike the classical finance theory suggests, individual investors do not always make rational investment decisions. Their investment decision-making is influenced, to a great extent, by behavioural factors like greed and fear, cognitive dissonance, heuristics, mental accounting, and anchoring. These behavioural factors must be taken into account as risk factors while making investment decisions. Investment advisors and finance professionals must incorporate behavioural issues as risk factors in order to formulate effective investment strategies for individual investors. With an objective to create investor’s confidence in the Stock market, behavioural issues are the newest of the things which must be considered while formulating investment strategies. This research will help investment advisors and finance professionals judge investor’s attitude towards risk in a better way, thus leading to better investment decision-makingBehavioural Finance; Asset Allocation; Cognitive Dissonance; Rationality

Platform Advocacy and the Threat to Deliberative Democracy

Businesses have long tried to influence political outcomes, but today, there is a new and potent form of corporate political power—Platform Advocacy. Internet-based platforms, such as Facebook, Google, and Uber, mobilize their user bases through direct solicitation of support and the more troubling exploitation of irrational behavior. Platform Advocacy helps platforms push policy agendas that create favorable legal environments for themselves, thereby strengthening their own dominance in the marketplace. This new form of advocacy will have radical effects on deliberative democracy. In the age of constant digital noise and uncertainty, it is more important than ever to detect and analyze new forms of political power. This Article will contribute to our understanding of one such new form and provide a way forward to ensure the exceptional power of platforms do not improperly influence consumers and, by extension, lawmakers

The Importance of Transparency and Willingness to Share Personal Information

This study investigates the extent to which individuals are willing to share their sensitive personal information with companies. The study examines whether skepticism can influence willingness to share information. Additionally, it seeks to determine whether transparency can moderate the relationship between skepticism and willingness to share and whether 1) companies perceived motives, 2) individual’s prior privacy violations, 3) individuals’ propensity to take risks, and 4) individuals self-efficacy act as antecedents of skepticism. Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression is used to examine the relationships between all the factors. The findings indicate that skepticism does have a negative impact on willingness to share personal information and that transparency can reduce skepticis