Individual Perspectives on Data Sharing: Human Factors Impacting the Digital Economy

Abstract

Digital economies rely on the exchange and sharing of data, but this type of sharing is relatively new. Any digital transformation will include a shift from data as a protected asset to data as a tool for collaboration and network building, but this requires a shift in individual and organizational mindsets. We examined individual perspectives that influence the decisions to share government and research open data by reviewing and synthesizing a decade of research, with a particular focus on how human psychology can introduce or exacerbate barriers. After a systematic, multi-stage search and article selection process, we identified 58 research articles that focused on this subject, with over one third published in the last few years. We clustered individual perspectives into six broad themes of barriers, and identified strategies for mitigating these barriers from the same literature.