Toward an Understanding of the Online Consumer's Risky Behavior and Protection Practices

This research draws upon protection motivation theory and social cognitive theory to investigate the extent to which the level of perceived threat and likelihood of threat along with online self-efficacy affect online behaviors. This article contributes to the literature by investigating a wide range of risky and protective behaviors and examining the role of online self-efficacy with a national online survey of 449 nonstudent respondents. Results show that both self-efficacy and demographic factors such as age have a differential impact on the type of behaviors taken online.