@article{2026:schmidbauer:why_do_peo,
title = {Why do people (not) donate their data? A scoping review on factors influencing participation in data donation studies and strategies to enhance it},
year = {2026},
note = {Data donations have recently emerged as research method, partly
enabled by legislation such as the GDPR. A relevant challenge they
face are low participation rates, which can introduce bias and limit
the potential of data donations to harness digital trace data for
studying behavior in various contexts. We conducted an
interdisciplinary scoping literature review to map research on
participation in data donation studies, outlining factors that might
discourage participation and strategies to address these issues. To
ensure methodological clarity, data donations are defined by clear
criteria: The donation is an active and unpaid, but at times
incentivized, transfer of intangible, reproducible, and retrospective,
trace data. Furthermore, data donations are voluntary and informed,
and primarily motivated by contributing to the common good. Based on
this definition, which also served as the inclusion criteria for our
study, we analyzed 30 studies. Included literature predominantly
focuses on health research and hypothetical scenarios, exploring
attitudes rather than actual donations. Although the investigated
literature is diverse, several factors are discussed to influence
willingness to donate. These include respondent characteristics such
as gender differences and technical skills, situational factors such
as privacy concerns and motivations including egoism, study-related
attributes including required data types and who receives the data,
and societal-level factors such as contextual influences and culture.
Strategies to increase willingness include general approaches like
offering benefits and the right communication, as well as study
design–related strategies, particularly cultivating trust, e.g.,
through credible collaborations and appropriate privacy protection.},
journal = {SCM Studies in Communication and Media},
pages = {299--331},
author = {Schmidbauer, Elisabeth and Haßler, Jörg},
volume = {15},
number = {3}
}