Publication Date
6-8-2026
Abstract
This study describes the development of a Cyber-Health Belief Model (CHBM). The health belief model (HBM) is a message strategy that is widely and successfully used in public health research [1] and has been extended into phish training. Most phish training programs assume end users are victimized because they have insufficient information to defend themselves. While near-term training effectiveness has shown to be effective, evidence for sustained behavioral change is thin [4]-[7]. This problem indicates that the traditional approaches need to be reconsidered and that new models are needed. Recent research suggests attentional deficits, cyber-fatigue and fatalism and a sense of responsibility influence susceptibility and that led to the development of the CHBM. Analysis of survey data from real-life cybersecurity training suggests fatalistic beliefs, sense of responsibility and the HBM predict cybermindfulness. Self-efficacy negatively moderates the effect between sense of responsibility and cyber mindfulness such that the effect of sense of responsibility on cyber mindfulness is larger for users with low self-efficacy than for user with high self-efficacy. The findings suggest that information about phishing can be augmented by increasing feelings of self-efficacy, mindfulness training, and an increased responsibility for cybersecurity.
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