Digital Trust Management and the Privacy Paradox: How Young Adults Negotiate Security, Disclosure, and Platform Trust on Social Media

Abstract

This research examines the privacy paradox by exploring how young adults navigate security, trust, and online closeness in customer service engagements on social media. It examines the impact of message tone, audience targeting, and customer feedback on perceived usefulness, perceived breach of confidentiality, customer satisfaction, and intention to make repeat purchases. Despite social media has emerged as a key platform for customer service, worries regarding privacy and confidentiality still affect consumer actions. Current studies offer minimal understanding of how traits of communication influence the balance between perceived advantages and privacy threats, especially in young adults. A quantitative research framework was utilized through a structured questionnaire distributed among young adult users of social media. The research explored how message tone, target audience, and feedback influenced perceived utility, perceived risk of confidentiality loss, customer satisfaction, and intentions for repeat purchases. The proposed relationships were examined through multivariate statistical analysis. The findings show that perceived usefulness and customer reviews greatly improve customer satisfaction and the intention to make repeat purchases. In contrast, the perceived breach of confidentiality has a comparatively weaker direct influence on behavioural intentions. Additionally, the tone of messages and the targeting of recipients greatly affect users’ views on both utility and privacy, highlighting that communication techniques are essential in shaping customer experiences and encouraging ongoing engagement. The research expands Privacy Calculus Theory by showing how perceived advantages and privacy issues together affect customer assessments of social media customer service engagements. The results offer actionable advice for organizations to create trust-enhancing, value-oriented communication approaches and assist policymakers in enhancing cybersecurity and digital literacy efforts to promote safer and more sustainable digital participation among young adults.