Impact of Users’ Comprehension of the Privacy Policy of FemTech Apps on their Information Disclosure Intentions: The Mediating Effects of Privacy Fatigue and Privacy Data Control

Abstract

FemTech stands for female technology, which encompasses a wide range of software, products, and services designed to improve women’s health through technology. Personal data used in this type of app are intimate, which highlights the importance of privacy, and therefore, comprehensibility of the privacy policies of such apps. This study explores the effect of user comprehension of privacy policies on their information disclosure intention through mediators such as privacy fatigue and privacy data control, which have rarely been studied. A scenario-based questionnaire was used to collect data from 236 females and SMART PLS 4.0 was used to conduct the analysis. Findings indicate that both mediators have an indirect-only mediation effect; however, the direction of the impact of privacy fatigue on disclosure intention was opposite to what was hypothesised. Privacy data control was found to be the stronger mediator. This study entails implications for privacy policymakers and mobile health application providers.

Keywords

• privacy policy comprehension
• privacy fatigue
• privacy data control
• femtech
• disclosure intention