It won’t happen to me: Promoting secure behaviour among internet users

Fraudulent activity on the Internet, in particular the practice known as ‘Phishing’, is on the increase. Although a number of technology focussed counter measures have been explored user behaviour remains fundamental to increased online security. Encouraging users to engage in secure online behaviour is difficult with a number of different barriers to change. Guided by a model adapted from health psychology this paper reports on a study designed to encourage secure behaviour online. The study aimed to investigate the effects of education via a training program and the effects of risk level manipulation on subsequent self-reported behaviour online. The training program ‘Anti-Phishing Phil’ informed users of the common types of phishing threats and how to identify them whilst the risk level manipulation randomly allocated participants to either high risk or low risk of becoming a victim of online fraud. Sixty-four participants took part in the study, which comprised of 9 males and 55 females with an age range of 18–43 years. Participants were randomly allocated to one of four experimental groups. High threat information and/or the provision of phishing education were expected to increase self-reports of secure behaviour. Secure behaviour was measured at three stages, a baseline measure stage, an intention measure stage, and a 7-day follow-up measure stage. The results showed that offering a seemingly tailored risk message increased users’ intentions to act in a secure manner online regardless of whether the risk message indicated they were at high or low risk of fraud. There was no effect of the training programme on secure behaviour in general. The findings are discussed in relation to the model of behaviour change, information provision and the transferability of training.     

E-file adoption: A study of U.S. taxpayers’ intentions

The United States Congress has set ambitious goals for the diffusion of e-government initiatives. One of congress’ goals for the 2007 tax year was for 80% of tax and informational returns to be filed electronically (IRS., 2004). In 2008, 90 million Americans choose to e-file (IRS., 2009); however, Congress’ goal of 80% adoption has still fallen short. This paper integrates the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, online trust, perceived risk, and optimism bias into a comprehensive model of e-file adoption. To empirically test the model a survey is administered to 260 United States taxpayers. Structural equation modeling is used to evaluate relationships between these concepts and intention to use. Results indicate performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and optimism bias all have a significant impact on e-file intention. Trust in the internet and trust in the e-file provider were shown to significantly influence perceived risk. Implications for practice and research are discussed.     

Addicted to pillaging in cyberspace: Investigating the role of internet addiction in digital piracy

The present exploratory study sought to address a gap in the current literature on problematic Internet use by investigating the relationship between Internet addiction and digital piracy. The main research question guiding this study was whether IA was correlated with digital piracy. The expectation was that IA would indeed be correlated with digital piracy and increase odds of perpetration. Secondly, taking into account that previous literature on both IA and digital piracy emphasizes the importance of online relationships (Acier and Kern, 2011, Fitzpatrick, 2008, Marcum et al., 2011), it was expected that deviant peer association would increase the odds of pirating. Finally, taking into account that previous research on both IA and digital piracy has largely shown that these problems affect a greater proportion of males (Andreou and Svoli, 2013, Gunter et al., 2010, Hinduja, 2012, Lam et al., 2009, Shaw and Black, 2008), it was expected that being male would increase the odds of pirating.     

Motivational aspects of different learning contexts: “My mom won’t let me play this game…”

Learning motivation should describe mechanisms that direct toward the learning goals, initiate learning activity and hold one‘s learning ability on a level that enables person to attain new information and more complex knowledge. Educational games are emerging as a new form of learning that should improve student’s desire for knowledge. Idea that educational games can be used as an effective teaching tool is what inspires our work in this field. In our study we attempted to explore the connection between motivational effects and application of educational game design as a learning tool. Additionally, we took into consideration effects of this approach on improving final exam results. Our results indicate that designing computer programs can raise enough curiosity and can be seen as a relevant learning tool for students.     

What I won’t do in pixels: Examining the limits of taboo violation in MMORPGs

This paper examined the emotional impact that engaging in or witnessing Symbolic Taboo Activities (STAs), as represented in MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), such as killing, torture and rape, has on adults. We focused our study on two games: World of Warcraft and Sociolotron. The study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which was chosen because of its emphasis on ‘lived experienced’ and how participants make sense of their experiences. Five participants, all over the age of 18 years, were interviewed via Instant Messenger, four of which were men. Most of our participants felt they could easily separate gamespace from the real world; however, when asked to examine specific actions in-depth, we found this was not the case for all STAs. Activities that did not have a sanctioned equivalence (e.g., rape) were found by most to be more difficult to separate, especially emotionally. However, this was not the case for all participants. The findings suggest that not all individuals can psychologically cope with engaging in and/or witnessing certain STAs in MMORPGs. The results, we believe are important for game designers, censoring bodies of video games and psychologists.     

Perceived risks, counter-beliefs, and intentions to use anti-/counter-terrorism websites: An exploratory study of government–citizens online interactions in a turbulent environment

This study examines the relationships between various risks, beliefs, and behavioral intentions that are related to citizens' use of anti-/counter-terrorism e-Government websites. The data was collected through two surveys within a one-year interval — before and after the Iraqi regime was expelled by the US coalition army. The results suggest that perceived privacy risk from an anti/counter-terrorism authority is the major obstacle in citizen-to-government anti/counter-terrorism information flow, while citizens' belief in the authority's domain competence greatly influences citizens' dependence on anti/counter-terrorism website information. Other findings and implications are discussed, and directions for future research are suggested.     

Examining the use of status quo bias perspective in IS research: need for re‐conceptualizing and incorporating biases

Kim & Kankanhalli introduced status quo bias perspective (SQBP) to help understand information systems (hereinafter IS) users' resistance behaviour. Since then, scholars have widely referred to the theoretical perspective to understand user resistance to and adoption of new IS and information and communication technologies (hereinafter ICT). However, our analysis found that while adopting SQBP, researchers focused primarily on rational cost‐and‐benefit analysis, rather than on the fundamental tenet of SQBP that highlights ‘bias’ in users' decision‐making on account of their cognitive limitations that lead to bounded rationality. In addition, some of the key constructs used in SQBP were not properly interpreted or were oversimplified in their operationalization. This research note aims to provide guidance for utilizing and analysing SQBP and its constructs for future IS user resistance/adoption research. Because SQBP provides unique insights into ‘bias’ in human decision‐making in its presentation of bounded rationality, accurate interpretation of its concepts and their investigation can help better understand the different sources of user resistance derived from the status quo bias during new IS and ICT implementation. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

An exploratory study of buyers’ participation intentions in reputation systems: The relationship quality perspective

Drawing upon a relationship quality framework, this study identifies how satisfaction, trust and different styles of handling conflict influence online buyers’ participation intentions in reputation systems associated with a C2C online shopping platform. Furthermore, we investigate how these effects are moderated by social conformity and the perceived value of knowledge. The results of a survey of 269 online buyers indicate that satisfaction, trust and an accommodating conflict handling style positively impact the intention to submit positive ratings, whereas an avoiding conflict handling style negatively affects the intention to submit positive ratings. Implications and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Understanding consumer intention to participate in online travel community and effects on consumer intention to purchase travel online and WOM: An integration of innovation diffusion theory and TAM with trust

The growing presence of online travel communities is leading to great developments in the travel industry. Grounded in the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this paper seek to develop and empirically test a comprehensive framework to examine the antecedents of customers' intention to participate in online travel community. Using SEM to analyse the data collected from a sample of 495 members, the results indicate that innovation diffusion theory and TAM with trust provide an appropriate model for explaining consumers' intention to participate; this intention in turn has a positive influence on intention to purchase and positive WOM. Furthermore, religiosity plays an important role in understanding consumers' behavioural intention. The results offer important implications for online service provider and are likely to stimulate further research in the area of online travel community.     

Human detection of drone invasion in a low‐altitude airspace: An application of signal detection theory

A field study was conducted to investigate the sensitivity of human participants in detecting the invasion of a drone in the airspace. A Phantom 4 quadcopter was remotely controlled to hovering at air locations inside or outside of a stadium. Twenty participants were requested to determine whether the drone has invaded in the test field or not on a five‐point scale. The participants also responded whether they have heard the sound of the drone. The nonparametric measures of the sensitivity of drone invasion detection, or P(A), were calculated. The results indicated that the distance between the drone and the boundary of the airspace significantly affected the P(A) while the effects of drone altitude were not significant. The participants were not unbiased detectors. They tended to respond “probably yes,” in general, when they spotted a drone near the airspace. The hearing of the sound of the drone provided partial cues in drone invasion detection.     

Some challenges in global land cover mapping: An assessment of agreement and accuracy in existing 1 km datasets

Many investigators need and use global land cover maps for a wide variety of purposes. Ironically, after many years of very limited availability, there are now multiple global land cover maps and it is not readily apparent (1) which is most useful for particular applications or (2) how to combine the different maps to provide an improved dataset. The existing global land cover maps at 1 km spatial resolution have arisen from different initiatives and are based on different remote sensing data and employed different methodologies. Perhaps more significantly, they have different legends. As a result, comparison of the different land cover maps is difficult and information about their relative utility is limited. In an attempt to compare the datasets and assess their strengths and weaknesses we harmonized the thematic legends of four available coarse-resolution global land cover maps (IGBP DISCover, UMD, MODIS 1-km, and GLC2000) using the LCCS-based land cover legend translation protocols. Analysis of the agreement among the global land cover maps and existing validation information highlights general patterns of agreement, inconsistencies and uncertainties. The thematic classes of Evergreen broadleaf trees, Snow and Ice, and Barren show high producer and user accuracy and good agreement among the datasets, while classes of mixed tree types show high commission errors. Overall, the results show a limited ability of the four global products to discriminate mixed classes characterized by a mosaic of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous vegetation. There is a strong relationship between class accuracy, spatial agreement among the datasets, and the heterogeneity of landscapes. Suggestions for future mapping projects include careful definition of mixed unit classes, and improvement in mapping heterogeneous landscapes.     

An interactive computer-based interface to support the discovery of individuals’ mental representations and preferences in decisions problems: An application to travel behavior

Growing emphasis is currently given in decision modeling on process data to capture behavioral mechanisms that ground decision-making processes. Nevertheless, advanced applications to elicit such data are still lacking. The Causal Network Elicitation Technique interview and card-game, both face-to-face interviews, are examples of a behavioral process method to obtain individuals’ decision-making by eliciting temporary mental representations of particular problems. However, to portray and model these representations into formal modeling approaches, such as Bayesian decision networks, an extensive set of parameters has to be gathered for each individual. Thus, data collection procedures for large sample groups can be costly and time consuming. This paper reports on the methodological conversion and enhancement of the existing elicitation methods into a computer-based interface that allows to not only uncover individuals’ mental representations but also to automate the generation of preference parameter elicitation questions. Results of such studies can be used to understand individuals’ constructs and beliefs with respect to decision alternatives, predict individuals’ decision behavior at a disaggregate level, and to assess behavioral changes due to differences in contexts and constraints.     

Online environmental community members’ intention to participate in environmental activities: An application of the theory of planned behavior in the Chinese context

This study investigated the factors associated with online environmental community members’ intention to participate in environmental activities in the Chinese context, employing the framework of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Using data from a survey of community members (N = 211), structural equation modeling analyses confirmed the roles of subjective norm and self-efficacy in affecting intention to participate in environmental activities. Unlike other TPB studies, however, the study discovered that attitude was not significantly associated with intention. In addition, other relevant factors, including ego involvement, group identification, perceived salience of environmental problems, perceived popularity of environmental activities, and perceived interactivity of the community websites, were found to be associated with the intention of participation, either directly or indirectly. The theoretical and practical implications were discussed.