Response awareness and instructional self-efficacy: influences on intent

This paper aims to examine the influence of response awareness on behavioral intent, and introduces instructional self-efficacy, a construct rarely examined within the context of information security (ISec).

A Web-based survey was conducted and a total of 211 valid responses were analyzed. The relationships among response awareness, instructional self-efficacy and behavioral intent were examined through a three-phase structural equation modeling analysis.

The results indicate that even at low levels, response awareness has a strong influential effect on the behavioral intent to perform the secure response and on the self-efficacy to instruct others to perform the response. Instructional self-efficacy was also found to be a significant predictor of behavioral intent to perform the response. Finally, evidence was found indicating instructional self-efficacy fully mediates the response awareness to the behavioral intent relationship.

Because of the characteristics of the population, the focus on a single ISec response and the dependent variable of behavioral intent rather than actual behavior, the generalizability of the findings is impacted.

The results contribute to practice by confirming the importance of response awareness and of instructional self-efficacy within an ISec context. Specific implications include the indication that informal communications about ISec issues among peers should be encouraged and that instructional self-efficacy should be targeted within ISec awareness training programs.

This paper’s parsimonious model defined response awareness as vicarious experience with a response and presented instructional self-efficacy, a construct novel to ISec studies that was found to be a significant influence within the relationship between response awareness and behavioral intent.