The influence of personality variables on the perceived self-efficacy to protect against cybercrime

The aim of the research is to explore the self-efficacy beliefs of young adults concerning protective behavior against cybercrime. In specific, the research is exploring factors influencing people's perception of feeling capable to protect themselves against cybercrime. The research especially focuses on the factors age, gender, and personality. Therefore, young adults between the age of 18 to 30 years will be assessed with a questionnaire measuring their level of self-efficacy beliefs as well as personality and general demographics. Lastly, the participants were asked if they protect themselves against cybercrime in order to compare if perceived self- efficacy is connected to actual protection behavior. This research is of specific interest because through the modernization and mechanization people became increasingly reliant on the internet. Furthermore, experts highlighted the human as the weakest and most error prone part of cybersecurity and that research is necessary in order to increas awareness and protection behavior.