Study on persuasion effect of computer virus measures based on collective protection motivation theory

Abstract

Virus infections remain a problem for the PC owner. Despite receiving instructions on how to fix the virus and warnings about the dangers of not doing so, there are many cases where owners are still not taking the required recovery action. Research on individual behavior and decision-making in a virus-infection situation is important for developing protection systems for information security. This paper describes a threat appeals model for information security based on collective protection motivation theory. The analytical results obtained using this model are also discussed. Our results show that the response efficacy for the Japanese Students is effective in persuading a person to initiate protection measures. And the results also indicate that a trustworthy source of media for providing the security information is necessary to realize a protection measure for Australia students.