TY - JOUR
T1 - Profiling cybersecurity competition participants
T2 - Self-efficacy, decision-making and interests predict effectiveness of competitions as a recruitment tool
AU - Bashir, Masooda
AU - Wee, Colin
AU - Memon, Nasir
AU - Guo, Boyi
N1 - Funding Information:
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (Collaborative Research: EAGER: Enhancing the Cyber Security Workforce – The Human Angle Award# 1342090 ; PI: Masooda Bashir (Aug 15 2013 – July 31 2016; Awarded Amount ; PI: Masooda Bashir (Aug 15 2013 – July 31 2016; Awarded Amount $161,708.00)). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We are thankful toward April Lambert and Karen Lamb for their assistance on the project.61,708.00)). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We are thankful toward April Lambert and Karen Lamb for their assistance on the project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - This paper presents the main results of a large-scale survey on cybersecurity competition participants in the past decade. 588 participants of the Cybersecurity Awareness Week (CSAW) competition were surveyed with measures of personality, interests, culture, decision-making and attachment styles in an exploratory study designed to identify the characteristics of cybersecurity competition participants. Subgroups analyses were performed to examine individual differences between self-proclaimed hackers and non-hackers, males and females, and cybersecurity employees versus students. Regression analyses were used to identify variables that influenced the extent to which cybersecurity competitions were effective at convincing participants to pursue a future career in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity participants who displayed higher self-efficacy, rational decision-making style, and more investigative interests were more likely to declare an interest in a career in cybersecurity after the competition.
AB - This paper presents the main results of a large-scale survey on cybersecurity competition participants in the past decade. 588 participants of the Cybersecurity Awareness Week (CSAW) competition were surveyed with measures of personality, interests, culture, decision-making and attachment styles in an exploratory study designed to identify the characteristics of cybersecurity competition participants. Subgroups analyses were performed to examine individual differences between self-proclaimed hackers and non-hackers, males and females, and cybersecurity employees versus students. Regression analyses were used to identify variables that influenced the extent to which cybersecurity competitions were effective at convincing participants to pursue a future career in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity participants who displayed higher self-efficacy, rational decision-making style, and more investigative interests were more likely to declare an interest in a career in cybersecurity after the competition.
KW - Career choice
KW - Cybersecurity
KW - Cybersecurity competitions
KW - Human factors
KW - Information assurance
KW - Recruitment
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cose.2016.10.007
DO - 10.1016/j.cose.2016.10.007
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84999289088
SN - 0167-4048
VL - 65
SP - 153
EP - 165
JO - Computers and Security
JF - Computers and Security
ER -