Trust in data-requesting organizations—A quantitative analysis on cultural antecedents and individual-level perceptions

Abstract

Interactions in situations involving the disclosure of personal information require trust-based relationships. However, trust manifests in different ways, depending on the cultural and contextual environment. An in-depth understanding of how culture influences trust is therefore of considerable importance to managing situations that require the disclosure of sensitive health information, both from an academic and practical perspective. Drawing on the Model of National Culture and the Development of Trust, our study investigates culture as a determinant of trust in data-requesting organizations. We link the model's three cultural dimensions (relation to self, risk, and authority) with Hofstede's study cultural dimensions and the privacy calculus (Laufer and Wolfe's study). To test our hypotheses, we analyze survey data collected in Nigeria, in cooperation with a non-governmental organization working on data-driven healthcare solutions. Our results confirm an influence of culture on trust in data-requesting organizations which is, however, dependent on the cultural dimension. In addition, we show that perceived benefits increase trust significantly and provide a theoretical starting point for extending the Model of National Culture and the Development of Trust by the dimension relation to benefit.