A Career-Oriented Information Disclosure on Professional Networking Sites: Privacy Calculus and Regulatory Focus Perspectives

A professional networking site (PNS) empowers job seekers to utilise professional development resources and future career opportunities. In this context, this study aims to investigate how job seekers in PNSs disclose their career-oriented information from privacy calculus and regulatory focus perspectives. For this, we propose a research framework that explores the dynamics of perceived PNS utilities (i.e. information, network and organising utility), perceived PNS risks (i.e. job seeker-, recruiter- and platform-oriented risk) and career-oriented information disclosure. We also examine the main and moderating effects of regulatory foci (promotion- and prevention-focussed motivations) on those dynamics. Our findings show that job seekers’ perceived utilities and risks have positive and negative impacts on their career-oriented information disclosure, respectively. However, the moderating effects of regulatory foci were not significantly supported, despite their significant, direct impacts on job seekers’ career-oriented information disclosure. Based on our findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as well as limitations and future research directions.