THREAT PROTECTION AND CONVENIENCE: ANTECEDENTS OF CLOUD-BASED DATA BACKUP

Data loss represents a significant threat to individuals and organizations. Based on Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and service convenience literature, a theoretical model is developed to empirically assess how the threat of data loss and the convenience of cloud-based backup solutions affect a user's intentions to adopt the cloud as a sufficient backup alternative. The factorial survey method was employed, using realistic vignettes to orthogonally manipulate the independent variables and offer more experimental control. Hypotheses were tested using 152 individuals recruited from a large southeastern university. Results from the study indicate that users who perceive the cloud to seamlessly back up their data with minimal effort and replicate their data across all of their devices are more likely to adopt the cloud for data backups. Further, it is determined that individuals who feel they are more vulnerable to data loss and perceive the data loss as severe will also leverage the cloud when backing up their data. Convenience is more influential than threat perceptions when individuals are evaluating cloud adoption, providing implications for individual users exploring the possibility of cloud-based storage solutions.