Research Note—An Exploration of Risk Characteristics of Information Security Threats and Related Public Information Search Behavior

Abstract

I nformation security (IS) threats are increasingly pervasive, and search engines are being used by the public as the primary tool for searching for relevant information. This research investigates the following two questions: (1) How can different IS threats be characterized and distinguished in terms of their risk characteristics? and (2) how are risk characteristics related to public searches for information on IS threats? Applying psychometric analysis, our analyses of survey data first show that unknown risk and dread risk are two underlying dimensions that can characterize different IS threats. Drawing broadly on the literature of information foraging theory, we examine the influence of risk characteristics on public searches for information on these threats. We utilize a search engine log to extract searches related to IS threats. We develop and estimate a system of equations with correlated individual-specific error terms using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. We find that the two risk characteristics exert differential impacts on information search behavior (including types of information sought, number of pages viewed, and length of query). The implications for IS research and practice are discussed.

The Adaptive Roles of Positive and Negative Emotions in Organizational Insiders’ Security-Based Precaution Taking

“…Anxiety has received much consideration in IS research, particularly as it relates to computer anxiety (Venkatesh 2000). Although studies have consistently found a negative relationship between computer anxiety and computer self-efficacy (Compeau & Higgins 1995;Thatcher & Perrewé 2002), the role of anxiety as a discrete emotion has been noticeably absent from much InfoSec-related research (Chen et al 2012;D'Arcy et al 2014;Hwang 2005;Wang et al 2015).…”

“Information Security Is Not Really My Job”: Exploring Information Security Role Identity in End-Users

“…There is demonstrable evidence that suggests that an important antecedent to security behaviors is threat perception [21,45]. Perceived threat is defined as the extent to which individuals perceive the security threat as harmful [23].…”

Cross-visiting Behaviour of Online Consumers Across Retailers’ and Comparison Sites, a Macro-Study

“…Above all, it is an indicator of retailers' access to potential switchers who are actively searching for a better alternative and use comparison sites; therefore, it provides important and actionable insights to practitioners. Cross-visiting informs the scant literature on underlying mechanisms of information search (Wang et al 2015) by illustrating users' interrelated search behaviour across the network. It also adds to multichannel research as current performance outcomes are based on limited measures of cross-channel phenomenon (Cao and Li 2015).…”

“…Then, it draws on a large-scale tracking data of million users across different websites to analyze consumers' holistic behaviour. Examining real-life logs of user behaviour is increasingly important, as it captures the actual usage rather than users' intension (Wang et al 2010) and provides valuable insight into online behaviour (Wang et al 2012(Wang et al , 2015. In addition, actual usage does not rely on participant's self-reported behaviour.…”