Research On The Influence Of App Users' Privacy Policy Reading Willingness ——An Experiment Based On Eye Tracking

In the era of big data,Applications have been completely immersed in people's lives.The authorization process in privacy policies that users need to perform when entering the App for the first time seems to have become a pointless and formal step.The fact that most people are reluctant to read privacy policies leads to a predicament for them to realize their function of protection.At present,the researches on privacy policies reading willingness at home and abroad mostly focus on the optimization of text content,the actual effect of the legal level,the interactive effect of the visual level,etc.There are few studies to discuss users' willingness to read the privacy policies from the perspective of user behavior combined with the actual situation of the authorization page,but the privacy policies of most domestic Apps are presented in the form of hyperlinks on the authorization page,and users need to click on the links to view the specific content.Therefore,the first step and antecedent variables of reading the privacy policy—the behavioral decision of “clicking to read” requires being valued.Studying the willingness to read privacy policies from the perspective of behavioral science has important practical significance and practical implications.The framing effect and default effect play an effective role in users' decision-making behavior,but they have different effects in different fields and situations.This paper attempts to explore the impact of the information target frame and option frame setting on the willingness to read privacy policies,and at the same time,combined with the “process measurement” advantages of cognitive science and technology,to explore the details of information processing in the users' decision-making process.The experiment simulates the situation of the authorization page of the current App login for the first time,using eye tracking and questionnaire survey methods,and adopts a between-group experimental design of 2(default agree/default reading)* 2(gain frame/loss frame).Based on the behavior and eye movement data of 81 valid subjects,the following research conclusions are drawn: first,the default effect clearly exists in this situation,and users are more likely to choose the default options of the platform;second,the type of information frame and default options The setting method significantly affects the users' cognitive processing of the privacy policy authorization page,which is reflected in more fixation time,the number of fixation points,and the number of eye movements.Third,the information frame and the default option setting method will interactively influence users' cognitive processing of key information.When the default option is set to “Go to read” and the information prompt is presented in a loss frame,the users pay more attention to the key information on the authorization page and spend more time reading the specific privacy policy text.Further,the study found that the reading time of the privacy policies is positively related to the understanding of the policy.This indicates that external contextual cues will have an impact on users' willingness to read privacy policies,and the government and Internet platforms can promote users to pay attention to personal information security from a “nudge”perspective in the future.