THE INFLUENCE OF COGNITIVE FACTORS AND PERSONALITY TRAITS ON MOBILE DEVICE USER’S INFORMATION SECURITY BEHAVIOR

Abstract

As individuals have become more dependent on mobile devices to communicate, to seek information, and to run business, their susceptibility to various threats to information security has increased. Although research has investigated user’s information security intention in recent years, not enough is currently known about how cognitive factors and personality traits impact the adoption and use of mobile device security technologies. The purpose of this research was to empirically investigate the influence of cognitive factors and personality traits on mobile device user’s intention to use mobile device security technologies. A research model was developed by combining constructs from both the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and the Big Five Factor Personality Traits. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze web-based survey data gathered from a total of 356 mobile device users. The findings of this study show that perceived threat severity, perceived threat susceptibility, perceived response costs, response efficacy, and mobile self-efficacy have a significant positive effect on user’s intention to use mobile device security technologies. Except for the trait conscientiousness, the personality traits were not found to significantly influence user’s intention to use mobile security technologies.