5.3. Effects of Strategies
As expected, the different types of justification messages and request order manipulations
influenced participants’ disclosure behavior. Our unified approach allows us to
explain in detail how this influence plays out:
Except for “number of others,” our justifications increase users’ valuation of disclosure
help. The results of the experiment show a direct effect of the justifications on
the perceived value of disclosure help (see Figure 4). More specifically, the “useful for
you,” “useful for others,” and “explanation” messages each increase the valuation of
disclosure help compared to providing no justification. Likewise, 12 participants in
the interview study mentioned that they appreciated the help that these messages
provided. Interestingly, the “number of others” justification provides no additional disclosure
help. This is in line with the interview study results: 11 participants do not
like this justification at all, and some even believe that it is worse than having no
justification. Participants mentioned that the message “feels like peer pressure.”