Development and Testing of the Cyber Malevolent Creativity Behavior Scale

Abstract

In the current research, we developed and tested a Cyber Malevolent Creativity Behavior Scale (CMCBS), which contains 11 items in three dimensions and aims to measure the degree of individuals' cyber malevolent creativity through malevolent creative behaviors in their lives. The results revealed satisfactory reliability with Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.749 for the overall scale. Specifically, the calculated values were 0.681 for cybershaming, 0.799 for technology abuse, and 0.644 for information manipulation. Data were collected utilizing an online survey (N = 988) in the form of a questionnaire. Using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, the questionnaire's latent structure and contribution of relevant correlates for explaining cyber malevolent creativity were examined. The CMCBS was significantly and positively correlated with the Malevolent Creativity Behavior Scale, Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire, and the Cyberbullying Inventory. This, along with the adequate psychometric properties uncovered here, indicates that it is a useful tool for research on cyber malevolent creativity.