How to communicate cyber-risk? An examination of behavioral recommendations in cybersecurity crises

Abstract

This study intended to incorporate the Cognitive Appraisal Theory with the Extended Parallel Process Model (EPPM) by demonstrating that the appraisal process and emotional arousals are an essential part of people’s risk message processing. A 2 (behavioral recommendations: present vs. not present) × 2 (threat: high vs. low) × 2 (message types) between-subject experiment design was used to investigate the effects of the intersection between organizational risk communication strategies on publics’ negative emotions (i.e. fear and anxiety) and behavioral intentions in a cybersecurity crisis (data breach) context. Results confirmed the prediction and indicated that negative emotions (i.e. fear and anxiety) mediated behavioral recommendation and threat’s influence on publics’ behavioral outcomes such as compliance intentions, information seeking intentions and prosocial behavioral intentions. The study has practical implications for public policy making regarding the communication of cybersecurity risk.

Keywords:

• Cybersecurity crisis
• behavioral recommendations
• perceived threat
• extended parallel process model (EPPM)
• cognitive appraisal theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.