The mediating effect of behavior on cyber resilience towards online fraud threats among IIUM students

Cyber resilience describes the positive attitude and behaviour in facing online fraud threats created by the perpetrators. As perpetrators continue to become more sophisticated, the users of the online platforms have to practice a safe online computing in their daily life. Younger generation, specifically, students are the most vulnerable groups since they are active users of the online platforms. The attachment to the online platforms open-up opportunities to perpetrators. Therefore, having cyber resilience helps them to remain functional by absorbing, recovering from, and adapting to the stressful events created by the perpetrators. As such, this study utilizes social exchange theory (SET), to explain the mediating effect of behavior on cyber resilience towards online fraud threats among International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) students. SET helps to find the reciprocal relationship between attitude and behaviour on the cyber resilience to counter online fraud threats. The postulated conceptual framework also assumes that students with positive attitude and behaviour in seeking extra knowledge on cyber resilience resistance towards online fraud threats. This study employs a quantitative research design using the survey method with a questionnaire as an instrument for data collection. Using stratified random sampling, a total of 269 undergraduate students from seven Kulliyyah (faculties) participated in this study. The results show that cyber resilience is significantly correlated with attitude and behavior towards online fraud threats. Behavior is found to partially mediate the relationship between attitude and cyber resilience towards online fraud threats. Thus, SET is supported for the study