Modeling inertia causatives:validating in the password manager adoption context

Cyber criminals are benefiting from the fact that people do not take the required precautions to protect their devices and communications. It is the equivalent of leaving their home’s front door unlocked and unguarded, something no one would do. Many efforts are made by governments and other bodies to raise awareness, but this often seems to fall on deaf ears. People seem to resist changing their existing cyber security practices: they demonstrate inertia. Here, we propose a model and instrument for investigating the factors that contribute towards this phenomenon

“This is the way ‘I’ create my passwords ...":does the endowment effect deter people from changing the way they create their passwords?

The endowment effect is the term used to describe a phenomenon that manifests as a reluctance to relinquish owned artifacts, even when a viable or better substitute is offered. It has been confirmed by multiple studies when it comes to ownership of physical artifacts. If computer users also "own", and are attached to, their personal security routines, such feelings could conceivably activate the same endowment effect. This would, in turn, lead to their over-estimating the \value" of their existing routines, in terms of the protection they afford, and the risks they mitigate. They might well, as a consequence, not countenance any efforts to persuade them to adopt a more secure routine, because their comparison of pre-existing and proposed new routine is skewed by the activation of the endowment effect.In this paper, we report on an investigation into the possibility that the endowment effect activates when people adopt personal password creation routines. We did indeed find evidence that the endowment effect is likely to be triggered in this context. This constitutes one explanation for the failure of many security awareness drives to improve password strength. We conclude by suggesting directions for future research to confirm our findings, and to investigate the activation of the effect for other security routines

Privacy vs. Security: Fear appeals, terrorism and the willingness to allow increased government surveillance

This study investigates the relationship between fear and privacy by using the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) to examine whether there is an association between fear appeals and the willingness to allow increased governmental surveillance of online and phone communications. Research suggests that, in the United States, privacy is important. Moreover, courts have inferred privacy rights in the U.S. Constitution, including protection from intrusions by the government. However, the threat of terrorism is also very real. There are indications that some people may be willing to allow intrusion by the government if it means keeping them safe. This study uses an experimental method to determine whether the fear of terrorism is stronger than the need to keep private communications secure from the government. EPPM is a predominate theory in the area of fear appeals and persuasion. Scholars indicate that the EPPM can predict whether a persuasive message will be successful based on the levels of threat and efficacy. The underlining assumption of the theory is that if a person feels fear, that person will take some sort of action to alleviate the fear. EPPM research suggests that, in order to persuade, a fear appeal message must contain language that accentuates a high threat and high efficacy to combat the threat. According to the theory, if a person perceives a high threat and high efficacy (i.e., feels he or she has the ability to overcome the threat by taking the action proposed in the message), that person will be persuaded by the message. EPPM is used primarily in the field of health communication; however, this study takes a unique route by using EPPM to study attitudes and behaviors toward terrorism and privacy rights policies. This study used terrorism as the threat and offered two separate efficacy options. The first was allowing increased government surveillance, and the second was individual reporting of suspicious activity to police. The hypotheses based on EPPM were not supported in this study, meaning that there was no indication that the participants who read the fear appeal containing the high threat and high efficacy options were persuaded by the message. However, the results did offer evidence that a high pre-existing perception of the threat could make a fear appeal ineffective. The perceived terrorism threat severity level for all of the experimental groups, including the control group, were high, which left little room for the threat to be increased using a fear appeal. EPPM proposes that, in order to be persuaded, the perceived efficacy felt by the reader of the message must be able to surpass the perceived threat. In this case, it is likely that the perceived threat of terrorism is so high that the efficacy options provided could not overcome the threat. Moreover, the results provided evidence that type of efficacy offered in the fear appeal message is important. This study also extends EPPM research by determining if there is a relationship between cognitive dissonance and rejection of a fear appeal message. Cognitive dissonance refers to inconsistencies between an individual’s beliefs and actions. The theory proposes that if an individual has an inconsistency in her beliefs and behaviors, it can lead to discomfort. The individual will want to alleviate the discomfort by reducing the dissonance, which could mean either changing beliefs or behaviors to make them consistent. This study proposed that the amount of dissonance a person’s feels when reading a fear appeal may affect whether the person accepts or rejects the message. The results showed that cognitive dissonance is a predictor of message rejection. The higher the amount of cognitive dissonance the participant felt when reading the fear appeal message, the more likely that participant was to reject the message. In fact, the results indicated that cognitive dissonance is a better predictor of message rejection than perceived threat and perceived efficacy combined. This finding suggests that cognitive dissonance should be considered when drafting a fear appeal message and that it should be included as a variable in the EPPM theoretical model. Finally, this study investigated the relationship between cognitive dissonance and the privacy paradox theory. The privacy paradox theory refers to an inconsistency between a person’s beliefs and behaviors about privacy. The results indicated that there is a relationship between dissonance and the privacy paradox

The Design of Personal Privacy and Security Risk Scores for Minimizing Consumers\u27 Cognitive Gaps in IoT Settings

The advent of Internet of Things (IoT) technology exponentially increases the collection of new information types in consumers’ lives from various sensors. However, many consumers do not fully recognize the potential privacy and security risks (PSR) associated with IoT. Those who are aware rarely take action to protect their personal information because of a cognitive gap between PSR and its impact. To address this problem, we propose a design framework for evaluating and quantifying IoT PSRs related to IoT adoption. Grounded in the cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) and information processing theory (IPT), the proposed framework defines IoT PSR scores and proposes a visual representation for improving consumers’ awareness of PSRs. Furthermore, we suggest a PSR control balance theory (PSR-CBT) to explicate the consumers’ two internal power conflicts. The proposed PSR scores can reduce consumers’ cognitive gaps, and thus, help them make informed purchase decisions toward IoT devices and services

Sustaining Patient Portal Continuous Use Intention and Enhancing Deep Structure Usage: Cognitive Dissonance Effects of Health Professional Encouragement and Security Concerns

Sustaining patient portal use is a major problem for many healthcare organizations and providers. If this problem can be successfully addressed, it could have a positive impact on various stakeholders. Through the lens of cognitive dissonance theory, this study investigates the role of health professional encouragement as well as patients\u27 security concerns in influencing continuous use intention and deep structure usage among users of a patient portal. The analysis of data collected from 177 patients at a major medical center in the Midwestern region of the United States shows that health professional encouragement helps increase the continuous use intention and deep structure usage of the patient portal, while security concerns impede them. Interestingly, health professional encouragement not only has a direct positive influence on continuous use intention and deep structure usage but also lowers the negative impact of security concerns on them. The research model explains a substantial variance in continuous use intention (i.e., 40%) and deep structure usage (i.e., 32%). The paper provides theoretical implications as well as practical implications to healthcare managers and providers to improve patient portal deep structure usage and sustained use for user retention

The Design of Personal Privacy and Security Risk Scores for Minimizing Consumers' Cognitive Gaps in IoT Settings

The advent of Internet of Things (IoT) technology exponentially increases the collection of new information types in consumers’ lives from various sensors. However, many consumers do not fully recognize the potential privacy and security risks (PSR) associated with IoT. Those who are aware rarely take action to protect their personal information because of a cognitive gap between PSR and its impact. To address this problem, we propose a design framework for evaluating and quantifying IoT PSRs related to IoT adoption. Grounded in the cognitive dissonance theory (CDT) and information processing theory (IPT), the proposed framework defines IoT PSR scores and proposes a visual representation for improving consumers’ awareness of PSRs. Furthermore, we suggest a PSR control balance theory (PSR-CBT) to explicate the consumers’ two internal power conflicts. The proposed PSR scores can reduce consumers’ cognitive gaps, and thus, help them make informed purchase decisions toward IoT devices and services

Sustaining Patient Engagement: The Role of Health Emotion and Personality Traits in Patient Portal Continuous Use Decision

Healthcare providers increasingly rely on technology, such as patient portals, for asynchronous communication with their patients. Even though clinicians have increasingly adopted patient portals to enhance healthcare quality and reduce cost, few patients continue to use this technology. In this paper, we investigate the effect that individuals’ health emotion and personality traits as measured using the five-factor model (FFM) have on patients’ intention to continually use patient portals through the lens of emotional dissonance theory. We collected survey data from 187 patients at a major medical center in the Midwestern United States. After we analyzed the data using structural equation modeling, we found that the final model explained 40 percent of the variance in intention to continue to use. Our results suggest that whether individuals continue to use technology depends on their reactions to technology in which health emotions and personality traits play a crucial part. Additionally, health emotion modifies the effect that personality traits have on patients’ intention to continue to use a patient portal. Our study provides healthcare organizations with an integrated view of patient portal use behavior and shows that individual personality traits and health emotion may increase sustainable patient enrollment and engagement

Sustaining Patient Engagement: The Role of Health Emotion and Personality Traits in Patient Portal Continuous Use Decision

Healthcare providers increasingly rely on technology, such as patient portals, for asynchronous communication with their patients. Even though clinicians have increasingly adopted patient portals to enhance healthcare quality and reduce cost, few patients continue to use this technology. In this paper, we investigate the effect that individuals’ health emotion and personality traits as measured using the five-factor model (FFM) have on patients’ intention to continually use patient portals through the lens of emotional dissonance theory. We collected survey data from 187 patients at a major medical center in the Midwestern United States. After we analyzed the data using structural equation modeling, we found that the final model explained 40 percent of the variance in intention to continue to use. Our results suggest that whether individuals continue to use technology depends on their reactions to technology in which health emotions and personality traits play a crucial part. Additionally, health emotion modifies the effect that personality traits have on patients’ intention to continue to use a patient portal. Our study provides healthcare organizations with an integrated view of patient portal use behavior and shows that individual personality traits and health emotion may increase sustainable patient enrollment and engagement

Make No Apologies: Fear of Negative Evaluation, Depressive Symptoms, and the Mediating Role of Accounting for COVID-Safe Behavior Amongst People at High-Risk for Severe Illness

With the goal of understanding unique and important threats to the mental health of people who are especially vulnerable to severe illness as a result of COVID-19, this study investigated associations between such individuals\u27 fear of negative evaluation, tendency to account for practicing COVID-safe behaviors, and depressive symptoms. Grounded in perspectives on self-presentation, normative influence, and cognitive dissonance, we hypothesized that fear of negative evaluation would relate positively to accounting for COVID-safe behaviors, which, in turn, would associate positively with increased depressive symptoms. The results showed that increased fear of negative evaluation predicted an increased use of apologies and excuses, which in turn were positively related to depressive symptoms. Justifications for COVID-safe behaviors were not significantly associated with either fear of evaluation or depressive symptoms. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed

Let’s Not Get Psyched Out of Privacy: Reflections on Withdrawing Consent to the Collection, Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

The technologies that we use and the values we embrace construct an information hungry society. Our mass adoption of them has transformed many of us into information junkies, and those whose business it is to feed our info-pangs continuously demand quid pro quo: in order to get information, you must give some up. In this article, we investigate PIPEDA’s conception of consent, with special emphasis on the right of individuals to withdraw consent