Mobile app users' privacy concerns: different heuristics for privacy assurance statements in the EU and China

Purpose As mobile apps request permissions from users, protecting mobile users' personal information from being unnecessarily collected and misused becomes critical. Privacy regulations, such as General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union (EU), aim to protect users' online information privacy. However, one’s understanding of whether these regulations effectively make mobile users less concerned about their privacy is still limited. This work aims to study mobile users' privacy concerns towards mobile apps by examining the effects of general and specific privacy assurance statements in China and the EU. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on ecological rationality and heuristics theory, an online experiment and a follow-up validation experiment were conducted in the EU and China to examine the effects of privacy assurance statements on mobile users' privacy concerns. Findings When privacy regulation is presented, the privacy concerns of Chinese mobile users are significantly lowered compared with EU mobile users. This indicates that individuals in the two regions react differently to privacy assurances. However, when a general regulation statement is used, no effect is observed. EU and Chinese respondents remain unaffected by general assurance statements. Originality/value This study incorporates notions from fast and frugal heuristics end ecological rationality – where seemingly irrational decisions may make sense in different societal contexts.