IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/teinso/v86y2026ics0160791x26001065.html

Factors driving cybersecurity behavior in virtual reality: Evidence from SEM-ANN approach

Author

Listed:
  • Alsharida, Rawan A.
  • Al-Emran, Mostafa
  • Al-Sharafi, Mohammed A.

Abstract

Despite the growing adoption of virtual reality (VR) in education, health, and gaming, empirical research on users’ cybersecurity behaviors remains scarce, leaving a critical gap in understanding how threat perceptions and individual propensities shape protective actions in these immersive spaces. This study aims to address this void by extending the Technology Threat Avoidance Theory (TTAT) with privacy concerns and perceived awareness to examine the determinants of cybersecurity behavior among VR users. Data were collected from 297 VR users and analyzed using a hybrid partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural network (ANN) approach. The PLS-SEM results confirmed the impact of perceived severity, perceived vulnerability, distrust propensity, and risk propensity on perceived threats. Privacy concerns, perceived awareness, and perceived threats were found to significantly affect cybersecurity behavior. The ANN analysis ranked perceived threats as the most influential factor affecting cybersecurity behavior, with a normalized importance of 100%. By refining TTAT for VR contexts, this research provides theoretical advancements and practical guidance for various stakeholders to enhance user trust, reduce vulnerabilities, and promote safer adoption of immersive technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Alsharida, Rawan A. & Al-Emran, Mostafa & Al-Sharafi, Mohammed A., 2026. "Factors driving cybersecurity behavior in virtual reality: Evidence from SEM-ANN approach," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:86:y:2026:i:c:s0160791x26001065
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techsoc.2026.103317
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X26001065
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techsoc.2026.103317?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:teinso:v:86:y:2026:i:c:s0160791x26001065. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/technology-in-society .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.