Perceived customer care and privacy protection behavior: The mediating role of trust in self-disclosure

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a chance and a boost for those retailers that develop their online profile. This new context can raise privacy issues on the consumer side. For this reason, here we explore the determinants of online self-disclosure, and its relationship with customer care. We collected the data through an online survey (n = 426) and tested a variance-based structural equations model. The findings unriddle the role of perceived customer care as an antecedent of both perceived control and trust, the latter emerging as a key mediator of the impact of both perceived customer care and privacy concern on self-disclosure. Moreover, in line with previous studies, perceived control was found to be positively related with trust, and negatively with privacy concerns. According to the findings, we draw several managerial implications and suggest future research paths.