Dyadic privacy management: The influence of dyadic privacy norms on the disclosure of co-owned information in romantic relationships

Previous research has emphasized online decisions by individual owners about disclosure of private information. Less is known about the disclosure of co-owned information by multiple owners (e.g., romantic partners) in digital environments, despite such sharing being common and risky. We posit that in such contexts, individuals’ decisions to share co-owned information are shaped not only by their self-centered privacy concerns and perceived benefits, but also by shared (e.g., dyadic) privacy norms. These norms, we posit, act beyond individual-level, self-centered privacy reflections in two significant ways: (1) They directly influence co-owned information disclosure and (2) they influence the weights assigned to individual privacy concerns. We further theorize that dyadic privacy norm accessibility is impacted by social identity salience, which can be manipulated through priming. The findings based on a realistic paradigm largely support our assertions but also produce surprising results. They highlight the need for further study of the role of dyadic privacy norms and social identities in multilevel privacy management.