Literacy or Laziness: An Analysis of the Role of Personality and Laziness in Cyber Hygiene

• In Event: Findings From the Scholars of the University of Cincinnati Cybercrime and Behavior Online Research Group

Abstract

Recent reports from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) illustrate that cybercrime cost the United States an estimated $12.5 billion in 2023 alone. Beyond the financial costs, cybercrime has increasingly been linked to other negative outcomes such as sociopsychological challenges. One approach to reducing these deleterious outcomes is through the promotion and adoption of cyber hygiene. Like personal hygiene, cyber hygiene focuses on the development and adoption of routines designed to reduce one’s, or an organization’s, cybercrime victimization risk. Absent from the current literature on cyber hygiene is the examination of the influence of indifference or laziness in conjunction with personality as correlates for cyber hygiene adoption. Using a sample from a Cint Theorem online opt-in survey (n = 807), the current study examined the potential influence of both personality traits and laziness on cyber hygiene adoption. Regression analyses indicated that personality traits and laziness were associated with adoption of cyber hygiene practices, although the associations were affected by various control variables. Findings from this study are discussed in light of policy suggestions and implications for future research and strategizing increased adoption of cyber hygiene practices.

Authors

• Timothy Austin Engle, University of Cincinnati

• Joseph L. Nedelec, University of Cincinnati