Routine Activity Theory and the Determinants of High Cybercrime Countries

Abstract

Cybercrime and the threat it creates are growing in its reach, in accordance with similar growth in information technology. Some countries account for more of the variation in cybercrime activity than others, which affects less criminally involved nations as well, considering that cybercrime does not respect national borders over the Internet. Routine activity theory (RAT) has been used to explain cybercrime at the individual level, but not at the national level. Much research has focused on high cybercrime countries, but this research is often conducted by cybersecurity firms and is exclusively descriptive, making no inferences. This research sought to determine what characteristics predict whether a nation is high in either spamming activity or phishing activity. In a sample of 132 countries, it was found that wealthier nations with more Internet users per capita had higher cybercrime activity. Unemployment was also found to interact with Internet users such that the effect of the proportion of Internet users on spam was strongest in nations with higher unemployment. The implications these findings have for policy and suggestions for future research are discussed. © The Author(s) 2012.