“Just how risky is it anyway?” The role of risk perception and trust on click-through intention

ABSTRACT

The prevalence of cybercrimes threatens internet enabled services such as e-commerce, search engines, and social media. This results in individuals having to evaluate the risk of malware before making decisions to click-through internet links. Drawing on two theoretical frameworks in trust in online transactions and risky decision-making, we propose a research model that incorporates both trust and risk frameworks to explain how individuals cultivate click-through intention. We offer theoretical and practical contributions.

KEYWORDS:

• risk propensity
• risk perception
• trust
• web-based malware
• click-through

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Obi Ogbanufe

Obi Ogbanufe is currently a PhD student in the Information Technology and Decision Sciences Department (ITDS) at the University of North Texas. She holds a Master’s degree in Systems Engineering and Management from the University of Texas at Dallas. Her research interests include information security, cybercrime, health information technology, and risk management.

Dan J. Kim is a Professor of ITDS at the University of North Texas. His research interests are in multidisciplinary areas including information security and privacy, information assurance, and trust in e-commerce. He has published more than 150 papers in refereed journals including Information Systems Research, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Journal of Management Information Systems, etc. He has received federal grants and awards including National Science Foundation and National Security Agency, 2012 and 2014 Emerald Review Citations of Excellence Awards, 2010 Best Published Paper Award in ISR, Emerald Literati Network 2009 – Outstanding Paper Award.