The ubiquity of devices connected to the internet raises concerns about the security and privacy of smart homes. The effectiveness of interventions to support secure user behaviors is limited by a lack of validated instruments to measure relevant psychological constructs, such as self-efficacy - the belief that one is able to perform certain behaviors. We developed and validated the Cybersecurity Self-Efficacy in Smart Homes (CySESH) scale, a 12-item unidimensional measure of domain-specific self-efficacy beliefs, across five studies (N=1247). Three pilot studies generated and refined an item pool. We report evidence from one initial and one major, preregistered validation study for (1) excellent reliability (𝛼=0.90), (2) convergent validity with self-efficacy in information security (𝑟SEIS=0.64, p<.001), and (3) discriminant validity with outcome expectations (𝑟OE=0.26, p<.001), self-esteem (𝑟RSE=0.17, p<.001), and optimism (𝑟LOT−R=0.18, p<.001). We discuss CySESH's potential to advance future HCI research on cybersecurity, practitioner user assessments, and implications for consumer protection policy.
https://doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3580860
The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (https://chi2023.acm.org/)