Understanding users’ relationship with voice assistants and how it affects privacy concerns and information disclosure behavior

Abstract

It is important to understand users’ relationship with technology, particularly considering the large data breaches and privacy concerns that have been plaguing users in the recent years. The CASA paradigm examines individuals’ social responses to technology which are triggered by cues in the interface. Emerging technology like voice assistants or conversational assistants are becoming more human-like, thus warranting a closer examination of the psychological mechanisms underlying users’ interaction with technology. Current research examining privacy concerns does not separate the agent (i.e. voice assistant like Siri or Alexa) and the device through which users interact with the agent (i.e. smartphone or smart speaker). This is important to consider as the cues triggering social responses could be different for the agent and the device, thereby having different effects on information disclosure behavior and privacy concerns. This paper aims to distinguish between the different psychological mechanisms underlying users’ interaction with the agent and the device, and examine how this distinction affects privacy concerns and information disclosure behavior.