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The purpose of this present study is to understand the role of habit in information security behaviors. The automatic aspect of habit and its impact on secure behavior and the intention-behavior relationship was explored in this dissertation through the lens of protection motivation theory. Three secure behaviors were selected for the investigation after following a rigorous process to identify habitual secure behaviors. The three behaviors that were investigated are: locking the PC when leaving it unattended, verifying the recipient email addresses before sending email and visiting only verified websites. Separate pilot studies were conducted for each of the behaviors followed by a main investigation. Habit was measured with a first-order reflective and second-order formative scale that captured the multidimensional aspects of habit: Lack of Awareness, Uncontrollability and Mental Efficiency. Data were collected for each of the behaviors separately via separate online surveys using Amazon Mechanical-Turk. The results of the data analyses indicate that habit significantly influence the performance of secure behavior while negatively moderating the intention-behavior relationship for each of the three behaviors. The findings also confirm that when certain behaviors are habitual, the cognitive resources needed to make decisions on performing behavior reduce. Several alternate models were analyzed as a part of the post hoc phase of the study. The findings of this study provide several contributions to the IS research and practice. This study investigated the role of habit in an information security context using a second-order formative scale. The findings indicate that habit play a significant role in the performance of secure behaviors and verifies the relationship between intention and behavior in an information security context. The findings provide directions to organizations in understanding habits of their employees and to foster positive habits while breaking negative habits. The findings of this study provide several future research directions and highlight the importance of further exploration of habit in an information security context.

Home guardianship measures provide individuals with a means to enhance and ensure the safety of themselves, their family, and their property inside their homes. However, research regarding the factors considered in the decision to employ home guardianship measures as well as the means by which individuals assess this information regarding potential threats and protective responses is limited and varied in its implementation. This study attempts to provide a theoretical framework for understanding the use of home guardianship measures with the application of a modified version of Ronald Rogers’ (1983) Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) model. This model assesses factors that directly contribute to the motivation to engage in protective measures as well as cognitive processes through which an individual assesses these factors. This study finds support both for the direct relationships between sources of information about potential threats or protective responses and the use of home guardianship measures, as well as support for mediating effects of these relationships. In conclusion, this study provides suggestions for future research to further examine the application of PMT to understand the use of guardianship measures.

Heavy rainfall is a common source of disasters in Taiwan. In recent years, floods have become more frequent and more severe. Therefore, there is a need for more research on Taiwanese flood preparedness. This study aims to study Kaohsiung residents¡¦ risk perception and preparation for floods, using Rogers¡¦ (1983) protection motivation theory as the theoretical model. A convenience sample of 256 residents answered the questionnaire in this study. Results found that respondents¡¦ perception of flood risk and perception of weather forecast (its timeliness, accuracy and comprehensibility) could affect their intent to prepare. These findings suggest that the government should put more effort into flood risk education and improve the quality and trustworthiness of weather forecast.

IT users often make security-related decisions in complex and multidimensional environments. Over-reliance on current behavioral security theories (e.g. Protection Motivation Theory) that do not account for such circumstances can seriously limit researchers’ ability to comprehend such decision making. In this regard, herd behavior theory explains that when individuals make decisions in uncertain circumstances, they may observe what other people are doing, discount their own limited information and imitate others (also known as social learning). Explaining protection motivation behavior from a different theoretical perspective (i.e. herd behavior) is one of the primary contributions of this study. Investigating whether protection motivation behaviors influenced by herd mentality can impact continuous secure behavior, as a very important and understudied information security phenomenon, is the other contribution of this study. In other words, examining whether security behaviors can be influenced by herd-related factors in uncertain circumstances, as well as whether such behaviors persist over time, is central to this study. The findings of this research show that in uncertain circumstances and when there is awareness about the widespread use of a certain security technology, users develop a significantly higher protection motivation. Furthermore, the results show that at the postoption stage, users tend to heavily rely on their own information and disregard the herd-related factors.

This study adopts the components of protection motivation theory to examine the differences between coping strategies used by males and females when dealing with four unique work-related fearful situations: fear of separation, fear of punishment, fear of embarrassment and fear of harm. Specifically, the components that are referenced include coping appraisal (self-efficacy) and threat appraisal (severity and vulnerability). Four different vignettes and a series of questions related to each of the fearful situations were presented to individuals willing to participate in the study. A total of 235 working professional graduate students and a group of full time professionals representing industries such as telecommunications, health care, and retail contributed to the study. While the first group (graduate students) was presented with the traditional paper-pencil questionnaire, the latter group was solicited to participate in the study via a sophisticated web-based instrument. Once the responses were received, the Chi-square, t-test, and a series of ANOVA tests with post hoc testing were computed to investigate where there were differences across all the dependent measures, which includes severity of threat, vulnerability to threats, and self efficacy. Sex was mainly applied as an independent variable in most analyses. The findings suggest that among the three coping strategies, problem solving is the most dominant strategy used by males and females across all situations as a group. However, females prefer seeking support as a coping strategy more than males do regardless of type of fears. In contrast, males prefer avoidance coping strategies to deal with situations that provoke fear of punishment. With regard to severity of the four fearful situations, both males and females perceived that the fear of harm scenario is the least severe while the remaining fearful scenarios are perceived as having a similar level of severity. In terms of vulnerability to the four fearful situations, males feel slightly more vulnerable to the fear of punishment scenario. Besides, males and females have comparable levels of self-efficacy. There are weak negative relationships between self-efficacy and seeking support, and avoidance strategies. However, self-efficacy has a positive correlation with problem solving strategies in both males and females. Research found that, the Asian ethnic group prefers to use seeking support strategy over the Black/African American and Caucasian ethnic groups. When comparing the latter two ethnic groups, Caucasians favor seeking support strategies. / Ph. D.

Få personer säkerhetskopierar tillräckligt ofta, trots att de riskerar att förlora viktiga filer. Vad beror det på? Denna uppsats har genom en kvantitativ undersökning försökt klarlägga vilka faktorer som har störst påverkan på detta beteende och om det finns ett samband mellan dessa. Datainsamlingen skedde genom en enkätundersökning, med över 300 svar från olika studenter på Uppsala universitet. Resultaten analyseras med hjälp av det teoretiska ramverket “Protection Motivation Theory” (PMT) och jämförs sedan med liknande forskning. Resultaten visar att lättja och glömska är de två faktorer som respondenterna själva anser har störst påverkan. Utöver detta har även det studieprogram vilket studenten går på betydelse. Resultaten visar också att hur studenterna bedömer sannolikheten för dataförlust och graden av de problem som kan uppstå vid en dataförlust båda har ett positivt samband med hur ofta säkerhetskopiering utförs. Av dessa har uppskattat problem störst påverkan. Detta resultat skiljer sig från vad delar av tidigare forskningen har visat, men ligger i linje med vad PMT säger om detta beteende. / Few people backup their files frequently enough, even though they risk losing important files. Why is this? This paper has through a quantitative survey attempted to elucidate which factors have the biggest impact on this behavior and if there is a correlation between these. The data was collected using a questionnaire which got over 300 answers from students at Uppsala University. The results were analyzed using the theoretical framework “Protection Motivation Theory” (PMT) and was then compared to similar research. The results show that laziness and forgetfulness are the two biggest factors that the respondents themselves say have the biggest impact on their behavior. In addition to this the kind of program the student is attending also has an effect. The results show that the assessed probability of losing data and the severity of the problem of losing data have a positive correlation with how often backup is done, where assessed problem has the biggest impact. These results differ from what some of the earlier research has shown, but is in line with what PMT says about this behavior.

En pandemisk influensa medför en stor risk för samhället där både sociala och ekonomiska aspekter tar skada. Risker kräver beredskap på såväl internationella som individuella nivåer och kan påverka hur stor konsekvensen av en risk blir. Denna studie syftar till att undersöka den individuella beredskapen kring det nya coronaviruset, covid-19. Med stöd av ramverket Protection Motivation Theory som beskriver människors olika beteenden inför en risk och vad som motiverar individer till att vidta en eller flera skyddande åtgärder. Vilka faktorer som påverkar en individs riskperception och hur detta i sin tur kan påverka den individuella beredskapen undersöks i studien. Även betalningsviljan för ett eventuellt vaccin mot covid-19 undersöks.   Metoden som används för att undersöka individernas riskperception av covid-19 är en kvantitativ enkätundersökning. Enkäten konstruerades till stor del utifrån ramverket och dess faktorer som sägs påverka en individs beteende men också utifrån studiens forskningsfråga och för att uppfylla uppsatsens syfte. Enkäten genomfördes av studenter på tre olika program på Karlstads Universitet.   Studiens resultat visar att Karlstads Universitetsstudenter inte uppfattar smittan eller spridningen av covid-19 som något stort hot vid den tiden då undersökningen genomfördes, mellan 24 februari och 11 mars. Detta har även lett till att skyddande åtgärder inte vidtagits i någon stor omfattning för att stoppa smittan eller spridningen av coronaviruset. De skyddande åtgärderna har inte heller, enligt majoriteten av studenterna, uppfattats som effektiva för att undvika smitta eller spridning av covid-19 trots att de rekommenderats av svenska myndigheter.  Betalningsviljan för vaccinering är enligt denna studie hög i jämförelse med vad tidigare vaccineringar mot pandemisk influensa har kostat trots att viljan för vaccination mot covid-19 endast finns hos hälften av respondenterna.   Slutligen kan det konstateras att riskperceptionen påverkar den individuella beredskapen gentemot en risk och att detta bidrar till vilka åtgärder som vidtas eller inte. Uppfattningen av en risk kan påverka vilken information som tas upp av en individ, vilka åtgärder som vidtas och under en pandemisk influensa kan den individuella beredskapen påverka spridningen av ett virus och därmed ett helt samhälle. / A pandemic flu poses a great risk to society where both social and economic aspects are harmed. Risks require preparedness at both international levels and individual levels and can affect the extent of the risk. This study aims to investigate the individual preparedness of the new coronavirus, covid-19. With support from the framework Protection Motivation Theory which describes people's various behaviors at risk and what motivates individuals to take one or several protective measures. The factors that affect an individual's risk perception and how they in turn influence the individual preparedness are examined in the study. The willingness to pay for a possible covid-19 vaccine is also being investigated.   The method used to investigate individuals' risk perception of covid-19 is a quantitative survey. The questionnaire was constructed mainly on the basis of the framework and its factors that states to have influence on individual behavior. Also, the questionnaire was constructed to answer the study's research question and fulfill the purpose of the essay. The survey was conducted by students in three various programs at Karlstads University.   The study's results show that students at Karlstads University do not perceive the infection or extent of covid-19 as a major threat at the time the survey was conducted. This has shown that protective measures have not been taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The protective measures have not been considered effective to avoid the virus or the spread of covid-19 although they have been recommended by Swedish authorities. According to this study, the willingness to pay for vaccination is high in comparison with what previous vaccines against pandemic flu has cost, although the willingness for vaccination against covid-19 is found only in half of the respondents.   Finally, it can be found that risk perception affects individual preparedness in a crisis and that this contributes to what measures are taken. The perception of a risk can affect how information is taken up by an individual, what measures are taken and during a pandemic flu the individual preparedness can affect the extent of a virus spread and by that an entire society.

De senaste åren har visat på en ökning av så kallade ransomware-attacker riktade mot sjukvården. Sjukvården är en samhällssektor som besitter en samhällskritisk verksamhet och hanterar känsliga data vilket gör den extra utsatt mot dessa typer av attacker. Under covid-19 pandemin var läget inom sjukvården pressat och detta har setts utnyttjas av angripare som utfört ransomware-attacker riktade mot sjukhus i hopp om att dra nytta av det pressade läget och få en lösensumma utbetald. Effekterna av en sådan attack mot sjukvården kan innebära stora konsekvenser och dessa konsekvenser bör tas i beaktning då skyddsarbetet mot ransomware-attacker utformas vid sjukhusen. För att bilda en förståelse hur svenska sjukhus ser på dessa konsekvenser vid utformningen av säkerhetsarbetet undersöker denna studie ämnet genom en intervjustudie med en teoretisk grund i den informationssäkerhetsmässigt beprövade teorin Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). Sammantaget visade studien på att olika konsekvenser tas olika mycket hänsyn till vid utformningen av säkerhetsarbetet. Konsekvenser för patientsäkerhet är de konsekvenser som studien visade tas störst hänsyn till vid utformningen av säkerhetsarbetet. / Recent years have seen an increase in so-called ransomware attacks targeting healthcare. Healthcare is a sector of society that possesses a socially crucial business and handles sensitive data which makes it particularly vulnerable to these types of attacks. During the covid-19 pandemic, the healthcare sector was under pressure, and this have seen to be exploited by attackers who carried out ransomware attacks targeting hospitals in the hope of taking advantage of the pressured situation and getting the ransom paid. The effects of such an attack against healthcare can have major consequences and should be considered when designing protection against ransomware attacks at hospitals. To form an understanding of whether these consequences have been included in the design of the protection work at hospitals in Sweden, this study examines the subject through an interview study with a theoretical basis in the information security-proven theory Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). Overall, the study showed that different consequences are considered to varying degrees when designing the safety work. Consequences for patient safety are the consequences that the study showed are most considered when designing the safety work.

Kemikalier utgör idag ett hot för mänskligheten, framtagandet och användningen av kemikalier stiger i takt med samhällets ekonomiska utveckling. Kemikalier återfinns inte endast utomhus utan hittas också i konsumentprodukter som kosmetika. Kosmetika används dagligen och kemikalier som medför risker för både miljö och hälsa har hittats i dessa konsumentprodukter. Syftet med studien är att undersöka studenters riskuppfattning gällande kemikalier i kosmetika, vilka faktorer som influerar uppfattningen och om skyddsåtgärder vidtas. Tidigare forskning ger en inblick i individers riskuppfattning om kemikalier samt hälso- och miljöeffekter av kemikalier som återfinns i kosmetika. En kvalitativ metod har använts med semistrukturerade intervjuer som datainsamlingsmetod och kvalitativ innehållsanalys som analysmetod. Riskuppfattningsteorierna habituated action theory och protection motivation theory. har använts som hjälpmedel för att tolka studiens resultat. Resultatet påvisar en koppling till tidigare forskning och teorier. Studenternas riskuppfattning påvisade en upplevelse av trygghet till kosmetikaprodukter inom olika aspekter och en delad riskuppfattning gällande kosmetikaföretagen. Oron för miljön, framtiden och de ”kemikalier” som återfinns i produkterna var högre än oron för potentiella hälsorisker med kemikalier i kosmetika. Riskuppfattningen influerades av rutiner, vanor och strukturer men förändrades av negativa upplevelser och interaktioner. Skyddsåtgärder vidtogs i det fallet individen upplevde ett hot eller en sårbarhet för kemikalier i kosmetika. / Chemicals today pose a threat to humanity, the development and use of chemicals increases in step with society's economic development. Chemicals are not only found outdoors but are also found in consumer products such as cosmetics. Cosmetics are used daily and chemicals that pose risks to both the environment and health have been found in these consumer products. The aim of the study is to investigate students' risk perception regarding chemicals in cosmetics, which factors that influence the perception and whether protective measures are taken. Previous research provides an insight into individuals' risk perception of chemicals and the health and environmental effects of chemicals found in cosmetics. A qualitative method has been used with semi-structured interviews as a data collection method and qualitative content analysis as an analysis method. The risk perception theories, habituated action theory and protection motivation theory has been used as an aid in interpreting the results of the study. The results showed a connection to previous research and theories. The students' perception of risk demonstrated an experience of security for the cosmetic products in various aspects and a split perception of risks regarding the cosmetics companies. Concerns about the environment, the future and the “chemicals” that are found in the products were higher than concerns about potential health risks of chemicals in cosmetics. The perception of risk was influenced by routines, habits and structures but changed by negative experiences and interactions. Protective measures were taken if the individual experienced a threat or a vulnerability to chemicals in cosmetics