Threat Perceptions, Avoidance Motivation and Security Behaviors Correlations

Abstract

As the economy increases its dependence on the internet to increase efficiency and productivity in all aspects of society, close attention has been directed to solve the challenges related to internet security. Despite the large amount of resource invested so far in this area, cybersecurity challenges are still great as the media frequently report new cyber breaches. Although researchers acknowledge that great progress has been made in protecting digital assets, cybercriminals are still successful in their operations which are no longer limited to government entities and corporations but also individual computer users. To improve users’ security posture, the researcher examined the relationship between Millennials’ perceptions of cybersecurity threat, users’ online security behaviors and avoidance motivation. The study focused on three constructs which are Perceived Threat (PTH), Online Security Behaviors (OSB) and Avoidance Motivation (AMO). The researcher administered a survey to 109 participants randomly selected in the United States. The Spearman’s correlation test performed supported the analysis of the strength of the relationship and the level of significance between the independent variable and the dependent variables. The results from the statistical test provided enough evidence to fail to reject the null hypothesis related to relationships between PTH and OSB and to reject the null hypothesis regarding the relationship between PTH and AMO.