Goal
This project aims to gain understanding into psychological factors that undermine or support valid privacy and security concerns and that influence effective protective action against security risks. This is done with survey studies in three countries: The Netherlands, Germany and the UK. We examine to what extent risk perception and protective action are influenced by potentially important psychological predictors such as (1) specific security knowledge and misconceptions about security, (2) awareness of potential harmful consequences of cyber-attacks, and (3) perceived ability to take protective action. The study will also take into account socio-demographic factors (gender, age, education level, income) and roles vis a vis the smart devices (primary user, secondary user, visitor) to gain insights into the effect of the psychological predictors for different types of users.
Outcome
The findings of the proposed research will provide starting points for developing interventions, targeted at specific subgroups, to stimulate protective action. The proposed research will culminate into local, national and European level policy advice about how to stimulate people to take protective action. The findings will provide detailed insights into what contributes to or undermines protective action by various groups of people, which can be generalized to understanding more in general how people take protective action in relation to vulnerabilities.
Startdate: 1 September 2025
Enddate: 28 February 2026