Privacy-Utility Trade-Offs in Genetic Data Sharing and the Moderating Role of Social Distance: An Interdependent Privacy Calculus

The sharing of sensitive data increasingly poses privacy risks not only to the disclosing individuals, but also to their families and friends. Genetic data sharing is a prime example of the tensions between personal and interdependent privacy risks and benefits that individuals must trade off when making disclosure decisions. Surprisingly, extant research has mostly neglected interdependent privacy-utility trade-offs and focused on personal privacy-utility trade-offs in genetic data sharing. We draw on the privacy calculus and the concept of interdependent privacy, as well as on construal level theory to theorize about the effects of personal and interdependent privacy-utility trade-offs in genetic data sharing. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a scenario-based factorial survey using contextualized vignettes in a typical genetic data sharing scenario. While our results support the hypothesized direct effects of personal and interdependent privacy-utility trade-offs, the role of social distance as a moderator within the interdependent calculus remains inconclusive.