Foot-in-the-door Mechanisms for Increasing Information Disclosure Online
基于登门槛理论，研究了注册流程中两种结构机制（按隐私侵入程度递增排序信息项、分多页呈现信息项）如何显著提高用户披露个人信息的意愿，并通过两个实地实验验证了效果。
The disclosure of users’ personal information during online platform sign-up is fraught with significant privacy and security risks. Drawing on the foot-in-the-door theory, this study examines two structural mechanisms in sign-up procedures—sequencing the information items in an ascending order of privacy intrusion and presenting the information items on multiple pages—that are hypothesized to increase users’ willingness to disclose private information. We tested these hypotheses through two field experiments: the first in collaboration with a FinTech company, and the second within a university alumni Facebook community. Results from both studies confirm that the proposed mechanisms significantly increase users’ disclosure behavior during sign-up. The contributions of this work are twofold: (1) advancing descriptive understanding of online information disclosure behavior, and (2) offering empirical evidence that helps reconcile normative and descriptive privacy theories as complementary rather than competing perspectives. Given that disclosure of personal information remains one of the most pressing online threats, this research offers practical insights into structural triggers that organizations may exploit in data solicitation.