User Privacy Protection Behavior and Information Sharing in Mobile Health Application

Abstract

The use of mobile health applications provides a convenient platform to the healthcare sector for conducting self-health monitoring, efficient consultation, health goals achievement, customer's information data storage, and others. There are growing concerns about privacy in mobile health platforms, particularly when highly sensitive health data is involved. Sharing personal information in mobile health applications does bring risks to the users, which might lead to the leaking of confidential information, and misuse of information. Due to this, protecting one's information has become essential when using the platform. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the influence of users' privacy protection behavior in shaping users' willingness in sharing information in mobile health applications. This paper adopted a quantitative methodology where data from a survey (N=200) of mobile health application users is analyzed. This study proposed a model that offers understandings on which users' privacy protection factors could stimulate users to share their information in a mobile health platform. Based on the results, this study concluded that response efficacy has the highest influence on information sharing, followed by vulnerability, self-efficacy, and perceived susceptibilitymedical info. The proposed model may benefit other researchers attempting to understand user standpoint's on data privacy compliance in mobile health application and increase user awareness in the research area