Does government social media promote users' information security behavior towards COVID-19 scams? Cultivation effects and protective motivations

Abstract Cybercriminals are taking advantage of the COVID-19 outbreak and offering COVID-19-related scams to unsuspecting people. Currently, there is a lack of studies that focus on protecting people from COVID-19-related cybercrimes. Drawing upon Cultivation Theory and Protection Motivation Theory, we develop a research model to examine the cultivation effect of government social media on peoples' information security behavior towards COVID-19 scams. We employ structural equation modeling to analyze 240 survey responses collected from social media followers of government accounts. Our results suggest that government social media account followers' participation influences their information security behavior through perceived severity, perceived vulnerability, self-efficacy, and response efficacy. Our study highlights the importance of government social media for information security management during crises.