Why do we share where we are? The influence of situational factors on the conditional value of check-in services

Location-based services (LBS) are among the major advancements in mobile internet applications since they take into account the geographic location of an entity and the ubiquitous nature of mobile services, using spatial decision support to provide customer value that exceeds that of traditional channels. However, the growth trajectory and associated adoption and diffusion of LBS have slowed, as challenges related to consumer perceptions persist. This study focuses on check-in services (CIS), a kind of LBS, like Facebook Locations and Foursquare, which use shared user experiences linked to geographical information to recommend places and venues. User adoption of CIS is particularly challenging, as the potential of location tracking is often regarded as a “double-edged sword” that benefits decision-making but risks the loss of privacy. To gain insights into users' voluntary CIS information disclosure, we combine the privacy calculus model (PCM) with the concept of conditional value and explore the effects of various situational stimuli in a true experiment and in data analyses that combine group comparisons with structural equation modelling (N = 296). The study confirms the relevance of conditional value to PCM and outlines direct and indirect effects of the situational factors of place relevance and frequency of location visit. The study makes several theoretical and practical contributions to the field of LBS adoption.