Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

College of Technology

Abstract

Recent research ofBailey College of Engineering and Technology (IT) end-user cybersecurity-related risky behaviors has focused on items such as IT user decision-making, impulsiveness, and internet use as predictors of human cyber vulnerability. Theories which guide user human behavioral intent, such as protection motivation theory (PMT, introduced by Rogers, 1975) and technology threat avoidance theory (TTAT, introduced by Liang and Xue, 2009) have not been widely investigated as antecedents of risky cybersecurity behavior (RScB). ThisDissertation describes exploratory research that analyzed and evaluated PMT/TTAT factors as predictors of RScB by enterprise IT users. This work uniquely contributes to the literature by investigating associations between accepted behavioral motivation models and RScB. Findings are intended to provide human resource development (HRD) practitioners and researchers innovative techniques to identify factors which may compel enterprise IT users to avoid risky cybersecurity behaviors in the workplace. Findings, based on survey responses by 184 working professionals in the United States, were largely consistent with previous TTAT-focused works. New insights arose regarding the predictive impact of perceived cost as a predictor of RScB (p = .003) with small-to-medium effect sizes. Predictability was further leveraged using discriminant analysis to predict RScB category membership derived from k-means clustering. Significant outcomes were noted with practical utility. An overarching goal of this study was to more fully inform the HRD community of scholar-practitioners of the urgent need to design, deliver, implement, and evaluate initiatives that could be utilized to diminish inappropriate and costly cybersecurity behaviors in various workplace environments.

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