ASSESSING USERS' BEHAVIOR IN COPING WITH SMARTPHONE MALWARE THREAT: APPLYING PROTECTION MOTIVATION THEORY

Smartphones being all in one featured mobile devices are spreading faster than ever. No doubt, attackers have revealed several vulnerabilities of smartphones and they are becoming a target for malware writers as their counterpart PCs. This jeopardizes the mobile life of over one billion smartphone users who are far from malware awareness. The objective of this study is to extend prior models to mobile technology by analyzing the users' behavior in dealing with the smartphone malware threat. This paper attempts to understand individuals' cognitive process in the context of fear. We test a theoretical model based on Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) using data collected from 352 respondents. Employing statis tical packages (SPSS and PLS), we found that all latent factors significantly determine the smartphone users' behavioral intention in adopting the recommended action against malware threat. Findings suggest that response efficacy has the greatest influence' Our analytical results manifest strong support for the proposed model. The theoretical framework and given implications of our study can be generalized and applied within the domain of smartphone security to persuade users adopt protective measures against malicious attacks.