Measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity
Purpose: This paper presents an initial development of a Personal Data Attitude (PDA) measurement instrument based on established psychometric principles. The aim of the research was to develop a reliable measurement scale for quantifying and comparing attitudes towards personal data that can be inc...
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| Format: | Article |
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Emerald
2017
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47081/ |
| _version_ | 1848797462913875968 |
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| author | Addae, Joyce Hoese Brown, Michael Sun, Xu Towey, Dave Radenkovic, Milena |
| author_facet | Addae, Joyce Hoese Brown, Michael Sun, Xu Towey, Dave Radenkovic, Milena |
| author_sort | Addae, Joyce Hoese |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Purpose: This paper presents an initial development of a Personal Data Attitude (PDA) measurement instrument based on established psychometric principles. The aim of the research was to develop a reliable measurement scale for quantifying and comparing attitudes towards personal data that can be incorporated into cybersecurity behavioral research models. Such a scale has become necessary for understanding individuals’ attitudes towards specific sets of data as more technologies are being designed to harvest, collate, share and analyze personal data.
Design/methodology/approach: An initial set of 34 five-point Likert style items were developed with 8 sub-scales and administered to participants online. The data collected were subjected to Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analysis and some MANOVA. The results are consistent with multi-dimensionality of attitude theories and suggest the adopted methodology for the study is appropriate for future research with a more representative sample.
Findings: Factor analysis of 247 responses identified 6 constructs of individuals’ attitude towards personal data: Protective Behavior, Privacy Concerns, Cost-Benefit, Awareness, Responsibility and Security. This paper illustrates how the PDA scale can be a useful guide for information security research and design by briefly discussing the factor structure of the PDA and related results.
Originality/value: This study addresses a genuine gap in the research by taking the first step towards establishing empirical evidence for dimensions underlying personal data attitudes. It also adds a significant benchmark to a growing body of literature on understanding and modelling computer users’ security behaviors. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:04:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-47081 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:04:16Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Emerald |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-470812020-05-04T18:58:18Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47081/ Measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity Addae, Joyce Hoese Brown, Michael Sun, Xu Towey, Dave Radenkovic, Milena Purpose: This paper presents an initial development of a Personal Data Attitude (PDA) measurement instrument based on established psychometric principles. The aim of the research was to develop a reliable measurement scale for quantifying and comparing attitudes towards personal data that can be incorporated into cybersecurity behavioral research models. Such a scale has become necessary for understanding individuals’ attitudes towards specific sets of data as more technologies are being designed to harvest, collate, share and analyze personal data. Design/methodology/approach: An initial set of 34 five-point Likert style items were developed with 8 sub-scales and administered to participants online. The data collected were subjected to Exploratory and Confirmatory factor analysis and some MANOVA. The results are consistent with multi-dimensionality of attitude theories and suggest the adopted methodology for the study is appropriate for future research with a more representative sample. Findings: Factor analysis of 247 responses identified 6 constructs of individuals’ attitude towards personal data: Protective Behavior, Privacy Concerns, Cost-Benefit, Awareness, Responsibility and Security. This paper illustrates how the PDA scale can be a useful guide for information security research and design by briefly discussing the factor structure of the PDA and related results. Originality/value: This study addresses a genuine gap in the research by taking the first step towards establishing empirical evidence for dimensions underlying personal data attitudes. It also adds a significant benchmark to a growing body of literature on understanding and modelling computer users’ security behaviors. Emerald 2017-08-01 Article PeerReviewed Addae, Joyce Hoese, Brown, Michael, Sun, Xu, Towey, Dave and Radenkovic, Milena (2017) Measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity. Information and Computer Security . ISSN 2056-4961 Personal data Information disclosure Privacy Attitude scale Cybersecurity Information security modelling Individual behavior http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/ICS-11-2016-0085 doi:10.1108/ICS-11-2016-0085 doi:10.1108/ICS-11-2016-0085 |
| spellingShingle | Personal data Information disclosure Privacy Attitude scale Cybersecurity Information security modelling Individual behavior Addae, Joyce Hoese Brown, Michael Sun, Xu Towey, Dave Radenkovic, Milena Measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity |
| title | Measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity |
| title_full | Measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity |
| title_fullStr | Measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity |
| title_short | Measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity |
| title_sort | measuring attitude towards personal data for adaptive cybersecurity |
| topic | Personal data Information disclosure Privacy Attitude scale Cybersecurity Information security modelling Individual behavior |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47081/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47081/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/47081/ |