Abstract: Protecting consumers’ privacy, eliminating their privacy concerns, and encouraging their self-disclosure are essential for online shopping platforms to promote personalized products and services, and maintain core competitiveness. In order to clarify the mechanism of privacy assurance mechanisms, this study integrated the elaboration likelihood model and herding theory, collected 231 samples through an online survey, and analyzed the data using SmartPLS. The results show that both trust belief and herd mentality significantly affect consumers’ privacy disclosure behavior, while trust belief has a greater effect. Both direct and indirect privacy assurance mechanisms establish consumers’ trust on platforms, however, direct privacy assurance mechanism is more effective of establishing consumers’ trust. The reputation of the platform affects consumers’ herd mentality. Consumers with higher analysis ability are more inclined to form trust belief based on platforms’ direct privacy assurance mechanism, whereas consumers with lower analysis ability rely more on peripheral cues to form trust beliefs and herd mentality. This study complements and improves the extant research, and provides useful guidelines for online shopping platforms and consumers on better privacy protection.

Key words: Privacy disclosure, Elaboration likelihood model, Trust, Herd mentality, Information analysis ability