Obi Ogbanufe, PhD

Obi Ogbanufe, PhD • Jun 30, 2022 • 2 min read

When Anticipated Regret and Cybersecurity Behaviors Become Joined at the Hip

When giving you an opportunity to think of how you'd feel if you didn't take an action that would have prevented a catastrophe, actually changes your behavior.

Decades of research suggests to us that the most effective emotion at behavioral change is regret (Passyn and Sujan (2006); Sandberg et al (2016); Zeelenberg (1999)). Not fear, anger, worry, anxiety. It's regret.

Why is regret that powerful? Let's define it first.

Regret is a negative emotion that we feel when we recognize the consequences of the actions that we did or didn't take (Zeelenberg 1999). It's a feeling that an outcome would have come out in a different way had we taken a different action. This feeling almost always surfaces when we feel we have made a bad decision. Most people try to avoid or suppress the feeling of regret. But oh no.. it lingers and does not go away easily (Kashdan, 2018). It holds you accountable (Passyn and Sujan, 2006).

Going Back to Regret and Cybersecurity

Ask yourself this question the next time your organization asks you to change your password to an organization's information resource.

│ Would I feel regret if I didn't change my password to protect my organization from hackers?

From a personal asset perspective, ask yourself another question the next time your financial institution, cloud provider, or social media provider asks you to change your password to an account.

│ Would I feel regret if I didn't change my password to protect my banking information [Twitter, GMAIL,
    Google Drive] from hackers?

If your answer is in the affirmative, your response supports the research I've done in this area (Ogbanufe and Pavur, 2022; Ogbanufe and Baham, 2022). You can download and read my studies on the topic of anticipated regret.

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Your response also supports many other studies that suggest that anticipating regret may be the magic bullet for motivating security behaviors (Verkijika 2018, 2019).

References

1. Passyn, M. Sujan, Self-accountability emotions and fear appeals: Motivating behavior, J. Consum. Res. 32 (2006) 583–589.

2. Ogbanufe, O., & Pavur, R. (2022). Going through the emotions of regret and fear: Revisiting protection motivation for identity theft protection. International Journal of Information Management, 62, 102432.

3. Ogbanufe, O. , & Baham, C. (2022). Using Multi-Factor Authentication for Online Account Security: Examining the Influence of Anticipated Regret. Information Systems Frontiers, 1-20.

4. Sandberg, R. Hutter, J. Richetin, M. Conner, Testing the Role of Action and Inaction Anticipated Regret on Intentions and Behaviour, Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 55 (2016) 407–425. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12141

5. Zeelenberg, Anticipated Regret, Expected Feedback and Behavioral Decision Making, J. Behav. Decis. Mak. 12 (1999) 93–106

6. Zeelenberg, R. Pieters, A Theory of Regret Regulation 1.0, J. Consum. Psychol. 17 (2007) 3–18. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp1701_3