This study investigated the factors that influence individuals’ privacy helplessness in the context of social media and mobile application use. An integrative research model was proposed, simultaneously examining both rational evaluation processes and directional motivated reasoning. The integrative research model was tested using national survey data collected from Facebook users (Study 1, n = 660) and mobile application users (Study 2, n = 385) in the US. The findings demonstrated significant associations between privacy helplessness and factors related to directional motivated reasoning (e.g. perceived rewards, costs, and benefits) as well as the rational evaluation model (e.g. perceived privacy control, trust in the provider, and response efficacy). Moreover, the interaction effects observed in the studies suggest that the two mechanisms either reinforced or attenuated each other's influence. In conclusion, the results emphasize that privacy research should explore both theoretical mechanisms concurrently, as opposed to independently, since they not only operate in conjunction but also interact to define boundary conditions for one another.

中文翻译：

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隐私无助中理性评估和动机推理的相互作用：一种综合方法

本研究调查了在社交媒体和移动应用程序使用的背景下影响个人隐私无助的因素。提出了一种综合研究模型，同时检验理性评估过程和定向动机推理。使用从美国 Facebook 用户（研究 1，n = 660）和移动应用程序用户（研究 2，n = 385）收集的全国调查数据测试了综合研究模型。研究结果表明，隐私无助与定向动机推理（例如感知奖励、成本和收益）以及理性评估模型（例如感知隐私控制、对提供者的信任和响应效力）相关因素之间存在显着关联。此外，研究中观察到的相互作用效应表明，这两种机制要么增强要么削弱彼此的影响。总之，结果强调隐私研究应该同时探索这两种理论机制，而不是独立地探索，因为它们不仅协同运作，而且相互作用来定义彼此的边界条件。