In most contexts, the word “risk” carries a negative connotation. However, in business and investment settings, it is not always perceived negatively. In this paper, we use the classic Asian disease problem and an investment scenario to examine the preferred choices of the general population versus specific groups: individuals with a high willingness to share personal data online, entrepreneurs, and the self-employed, compared to the average employee or citizen. The Asian Disease Problem involves a disease—an inherently negative event—but it can be framed either positively (as a gain) or negatively (as a loss). We recruited participants from a national population. Our analysis explores when the outcomes align with prospect theory and when they do not. We distinguish between the Asian Disease A (gain frame) and Asian Disease B (loss frame), as well as Investment Choice 1 (gain frame) and Investment Choice 2 (loss frame). Our findings indicate that the gain frame predicts the expected risk-seeking versus risk-averse behavior more frequently compared to the loss frame.

Who is interested in digital travel? In particular, what are the personal traits of individuals who use digital alternatives to physical travel? In this chapter, we aim to arrive at accurate answers to these questions. Our earlier work had shown that two characteristics distinguish people who are positive about digital travel versus those who are not: optimism, which we assessed using the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, and resistance to peer influence (RPI), which we assessed using the Steinberger and Monahan RPI-questionnaire. Our previous study took place during a time of travel restrictions introduced in response to the spread of the Covid-19 virus. To expand on those findings, we commissioned a new and larger national survey with 604 travellers to analyse whether these two characteristics can be used to identify those with a positive view of digital travel in general. This was conducted after Covid-19 restrictions had been removed. We asked our participants to express their views about travelling digitally by answering questions about the use of digital travel for guided tours, museum visits, and distant attractions. Our results showed that resistance to peer influence scores could indeed be used to predict the likelihood of users accepting digital travel technologies, but user optimism could not.

In this article we look at two of the principle ways in which digital technology may plausibly change the nature of, and to some extent replace, physical travel. The most obvious is to simulate another place as a virtual reality, one that can convey a convincing sense of being there. This can be seen as making the digital world more physical, as far as the user’s experience is concerned, and is a strong form of digital travel. Video gaming and some work with therapeutic applications for relaxation, regeneration and exercise point to the potential of this kind of digital travel to have a wider and more engaging role in the future. In contrast, widely used and accepted systems for on-line meetings, and various phone apps providing location-sensitive information to their users, and also augmented reality approaches (none of which convey a strong sense of being in another location), suggest another approach - that of making the physical world more digital. We characterise this as a weaker form of digital travel. To examine people’s attitudes to these two approaches, we created two fictional scenarios, each exemplifying key characteristics of these forms of digital travel. We report opinion ratings about the two scenarios, focusing on participants opinions of their realism, their likelihood to become common practice, and their suitability for different purposes. Finally, we speculate about the possible future for designed digital travel experiences.

In the digital economy, criminal activities have increased, making all citizens vulnerable. Financial institutions, internet, and telecom operations are taking steps to stop criminal activity, but it is not possible to protect all customers. Fraud remains a significant problem, particularly affecting elderly citizens. This paper focuses on individuals aged 60 years or older, a group that includes both high and low ICT skill levels. The necessity of being digital and protecting personal data is critical, especially as criminals use advanced social engineering techniques and AI tools, making it difficult to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent messages. Reports indicate that the elderly are frequently targeted by criminals, with terms like “Olga-fraud” describing financial fraud against older women. Understanding why criminals often succeed when targeting elderly citizens is crucial. This study investigates the human factors affecting susceptibility to phishing by analysing data from two samples: a national sample of individuals aged 60–69 years (Study 1) and a sample of retired individuals aged 63–79 years (Study 2). The research addresses four questions: the predictive value of the cognitive reflection test (CRT), data disclosure test, interpersonal trust, and conformity on experiencing credit card misuse or ID theft. Using binary logistic regression, the study identifies significant predictors of fraud vulnerability. Findings suggest that while CRT is not a significant predictor, data disclosure, interpersonal trust, and conformity are. The studies highlight the importance of personal traits and decision styles in online vulnerability, contributing to our understanding of why elderly citizens are often targeted successfully by criminals.

Dark Pattern is an analogue board game, based on Dark Pattern designs in websites and applications, which was developed in order to increase awareness of some of the risks and hazards consumers may face when installing apps and subsequently sharing, often unwittingly, their personal data. Players who avoid sharing personal data, while forcing others to do so, are more likely to win, than those that download apps within gameplay without a clear strategy to protect themselves. In a Worldcist-2023 paper we presented an analysis of 102 players of two groups, where group one played a 60-min session of the game, while group two played for 75 min. Based on our observation and analyses, we decided to increase the playtime to 90 min and run new play-sessions. Our exploratory analysis is based on Partial Least Square – Structural Equation modelling (PLS-SEM) followed by binary logistic regression analysis. The PLS-SEM analyses investigate the variables dark patterns knowledge and perception of harm and the perception of the likelihood of data sharing leading to a negative outcome or event and whether these were associated with players intention to take proactive steps to protect their personal data. The PLS-SEM models showed a variance explained (R2) of 0.20, which indicates that approximately 20

Vacations are essential for many people, offering a break from daily routines. As technology integrates into all aspects of society, including travel, questions about the future of digital travel arise. Digital travel is an emerging phenomenon, with limited observations or interviews of digital travelers at virtual destinations. This paper aims to predict travelers' intentions to engage in digital travel in the future, addresses a gap in the literature on digital tourism from travelers' perspectives. To enhance ecological validity, a digital presentation of Mexico from the game Forza Horizon 5 was used, and 586 travelers from a national population were recruited. The survey included questions on digital presentations of museums, attractions, and guided tours, followed by questions on the level of experiences in a digital museum, digital attractions, and a digital guided tour. Binary logistic regression was used to predict future interest in digital travel applications. The significant predictors were the level of education of the participants, their response to digital guided tours, and vicarious sightseeing in Mexico. The study discusses the potential of digital travel in future vacations, suggesting that virtual experiences can complement, and sometimes even substitute, physical travel. However, digital travel appears, according to the findings, to appeal to only a small segment of travelers.

Dark patterns refer to tricks used in websites and apps to make you do things that you do not intend to do. This paper presents the board-game Dark Pattern, in which players install apps, draw dark patterns cards, and make choices about the sharing of personal data. To win the game, a player must share as little data as possible and play cards that punish other players. Two groups, the first with 56 students and the second with 45 students, played the game and then answered a survey with questions controlling their knowledge about the dark patterns types featured in the game. In addition, a further 50 students answered the same survey without playing the game. In this paper we present key findings about the dark patterns knowledge generated by playing the game. Then we present an exploratory analysis using Partial Least Square – Structural Equation modelling (PLS-SEM). We analysed whether dark patterns knowledge and risk perception, the likelihood of negative incidents due to data sharing, could predict the players behavioural intention to take proactive privacy steps. The two PLS-SEM models have a variance explained (R2) of 0.34 and 0.35 indicating that approximately 35

The research objective of this study was to investigate factors contributing to phishing susceptibility, expanding on findings from previous studies. We report results based on five, large-scale surveys of national populations from which we collected data about cognitive strategies using the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), privacy attitudes, data disclosure behaviors, and demographic variables. We used binary logistic regression to analyze the relationship between these factors and susceptibility to phishing attacks. We found that willingness to share personal data and CRT scores significantly predicted phishing susceptibility. Younger people were somewhat more susceptible than older age-groups. as were males than females. Importantly, these findings suggest that phishing susceptibility is not simply a function of cognitive ability, but also of individual differences in privacy attitudes and data disclosure behaviors. Their credibility is enhanced by the use of five large-scale studies with national populations, unlike earlier studies primarily relying on smaller-scale student populations.

Although the ubiquitous use of smartphones and social media poses serious risks to the privacy of users, research is sparse regarding how users perceive these risks. We present a study investigating the perception of e-privacy risks, assuming that risk perception depends on context and situation, and employing a facet theory approach to define and analyze privacy risk perceptions. Specifically, we define three facets that characterize situations involving an e-privacy risk: Facet A refers to the type of data disclosed, distinguishing three types: a person's identity information, information about health, and information about private activities. Facet B refers to the type of actor misusing the information, distinguishing between commercial organizations, public authorities, social networks, and criminal actors. Facet C distinguishes three kinds of harm that might be experienced as a consequence: financial loss, physical harm, and negative psycho-social experiences. Questionnaire items were constructed by creating fictitious but realistic scenarios, each representing a combination of one element from each facet, yielding 36 (3 x 4 x 3) scenarios. For each scenario, respondents rated the likelihood and the negativity of experiencing that scenario. Following the facet theoretical paradigm, item intercorrelations were analyzed via ordinal multidimensional scaling. Results from a representative survey among 500 adult Norwegians yield a distinct partitioning with respect to Facets A and B, called a radex configuration. Facet B (actors) shows an angular partition. Facet C (type of harm) yields a contrast of financial versus psycho-social harm. In sum, we conclude that our three-faceted definition provides a satisfying first approximation to people's perception of privacy risks on the Internet while remaining open for extensions with additional facets.

Despite popular misconception it is not only young people that are sharing nude pictures and videos. There are a number of studies targeted towards the younger generation about their sexting, but few on older age-groups. In general, younger people take more risk than older people, and some seem to care less about possible negative consequences. For this study we commissioned a market research company to collect data from a national population, with a representative sample from 16 to 69 years old, in total 1071 citizens. We used binary logistic regression for the analysis of responses, a method that can be used to predict a categorical dependent variable – in our case whether a person has been sexting the last 12 months or not. In the study we included the following independent variables: gender, education, self-efficacy; the cognitive reflection test (CRT) to distinguish between a intuitive versus analytical decision style; Machiavellianism, to distinguish a personality trait characterized by manipulativeness and deceitfulness; willingness to share personal data, and finally whether the citizens had experience of ID-theft or credit-card misuse within the previous 12 months. Our results show that the ID-theft/credit-card variable was a significant predictor of sexting for the age-groups 16-29, 30-39 and 50-69 years old. For youngest group, the manipulativeness and deceitfulness trait is also a predictor, whereas for the oldest group, the intuitive decision style a high willingness to share personal data are also significant predictors

Tricks used in websites and apps to make you do things that you do not intend to do are often referred to as dark pattern. This paper presents the board-game Dark Pattern about installing apps. The players draw cards, make choice about data that the app would like to collect and use. To win the player must avoid sharing personal data. The game was played with 102 students. After playing the game the players answered a survey with questions about their knowledge about the dark patterns types featured in the game. In addition, 50 students answered the same survey without playing the game. In the paper we present key findings about the dark patterns knowledge generated by playing the game and present an exploratory analysis using Partial Least Square – Structural Equation modelling (PLS-SEM). We analysed whether dark patterns knowledge and risk perception, the likelihood of negative incidents due to data sharing, could predict the players behavioural intention to take proactive privacy steps. The PLS-SEM models have a variance explained (R2) of 0.17 indicating that 17

In this study, we invited members of a Norwegian national survey-panel to give their views on digital travel applications and digital travel experiences, and to consider Mexico as a travel destination. We presented vacationers with descriptions of digital travel products and activities, and a video about Mexico made from the game Horizon Forza 5. We used Partial Least Square—Structural Equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to analyse whether digital presentations, sense of place, and travel motivation could predict intention to visit Mexico. The analysis showed that vicarious sense of place was the best predictor of future intentions. As the study is based on survey data from a national population, a reasonable degree of generalisability, at least for Norway and other Scandinavian countries, is to be expected. It shows that there is a small but emergent market for digital travel and virtual tourism. More importantly, the study indicates that a digital experience in a virtual environment—specifically, that of a vicarious sense of place—can stimulate and motivate vacationers to travel to a tourist destination and hence that there are opportunities which businesses in the travel economy can potentially utilize.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions on physical meetings and travel that came with it have had an impact on how people think about travel and digital alternatives to physical travel. In this study, we asked what the characteristics of tomorrow's digital travellers might be. 100 members of survey panels were invited to give their views on digital travel applications and digital travel experiences emerge both demographics and personal characteristics of the travellers. We distinguish between two groups: the travellers with a positive view of digital travel versus the travellers who did not share this view. The positive-to-digital travellers were those that stated that a digital travel experience could be similar to the physical experience or that it can substitute for a visit to a tourist destination. The analysis showed that two individual characteristics were more common amongst those positive-to-digital travel: optimism, as measured with the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, and resistance to peer influence, measured with the Steinberger and Monahan RPI questionnaire.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, digital alternatives to office-work, classroom teaching, business meetings, and leisure activities, etc. were seen by most as a supplement to, not a replacement for, meeting people face-to-face. With the experiences many have had these last two years, including travel restrictions, vacationers’ views of digital travel might be expected to have changed. This study is based on surveys of views on digital travel in the summers of 2021 and 2022. We presented vacationers with descriptions of digital travel products and activities, followed by questions about willingness to pay for these. We identified a small segment of vacationers who see digital travel as a substitute for physical travel, and a significant group of vacationers who see the digital travel experience as a pre-taste of actual travel. The vacationers were asked for comparisons of their willingness to pay for digital services with ticket prices that a tourist would normally pay at a destination. Although we could identify a market for digital travel products, it remains to be seen whether players in the travel industry can offer products and services that are attractive enough to raise significant revenue. There is not necessarily a high correlation between intention to pay and actual willingness to make payments, but the study indicates that there is an emergent market that businesses in the travel economy can potentially utilize.

This research examines how various factors, such as the degree of e-privacy concerns and control over data access permissions, can influence a user's intention to install a smartphone app. We conducted two survey-based experiments with 441 participants. In each experiment, we manipulated the degree of control over the number and type of data access permissions granted to different fictional apps. In Study 1, participants were informed about the set of permissions the apps required. In Study 2, participants indicated which individual permissions they were willing to grant to the apps. In both experiments, we assessed the level of e-privacy concerns, perceived app importance, and the intention to install the apps. The results suggest that the type of app plays a central role in determining both the perceived benefit of installing the app and the level of e-privacy concerns. The intention to install an app is more strongly associated with perceived app importance than with e-privacy concerns (especially when app importance is high, and users have explicit control over which specific data access permissions they want to grant). The implications of these results are discussed regarding psychological factors involved in app installation decision-making process and the importance of promoting data protection by design.

Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social NetworkingVol. 25, No. 3 Calls For PapersFree AccessCall for Special Issue Papers: The Psychosocial Impacts of Digital TravelDeadline for Manuscript Submission: July 31, 2022Guest Editors: John Waterworth and Ingvar TjostheimGuest Editors: John WaterworthUmeå University, SwedenSearch for more papers by this author and Ingvar TjostheimNorwegian Computing Center, OsloSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:16 Mar 2022https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2022.29242.cfpAboutSectionsPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking is organizing a special issue dedicated to the applications, limitations and future potential of different varieties of digital travel.Physical travel is important for most people, but is impossible or hazardous for many who would like to visit other places, due to ill health, infirmities, or advancing age. COVID-19 reduced the feasibility and attractiveness of much travel for a great many people in all age groups. Travel has a serious negative impact on the environment, the deterioration of which is seen as an increasingly urgent problem. These factors, and the experienced feasibility of using digital substitutes for physical travel, have led to increasing acceptability of the idea of travelling and visiting other places digitally, as well as renewed interest in evaluating the effects and effectiveness of digital travel, and also in improving the way it is implemented.Digital travel is used here as a general term that covers a broad spectrum of situations where people experience a sense of being in a place other than where their bodies are physically located, through the use of digital technologies. The technologies used might include VR, large-screen displays, game interfaces, PCs and mobile phones, amongst others. The application situations range from casual or planned meetings with others in cyberspace, through visits to actual or simulated places or events of particular interest, to carefully organized virtual vacations in popular holiday resorts.In this special issue, we are focusing on the various ways in which digital travel can be designed and applied to enhance the lives and experiences of the “digital travelers” visiting virtual places.We are open to high-quality original articles and review articles on the following topics (though other topics will be considered): Therapeutic applications of digital travelAgeing and digital travellingAttitudes to digital travel amongst specific user groupsEvaluation of digital travel experiencesImpact on wellbeing factors, such as perceived loneliness, social connectednessMotivated innovations in approaches to virtual meetingsThe role of narratives in digital travelsDigital travel and autobiographical memoryExplorations of the sense of presence and place attachment through digital travelComparisons of physical and digital travelDigital travel as a supplement to, versus substitute for, physical travelExperiences of place in gamesDigital visits to historical sites and other actual placesWe are interested in both theoretical and practical work on these and related topics. Evaluations of the subjective effects of digital travel experiences on quality of life are particularly sought.The deadline for manuscript submission is July 31, 2022. Please submit your papers online to the web-based manuscript submission and peer-review system at www.liebertpub.com/cyberQuestions? Contact the journal editorial office at cyberpsych@vrphobia.comVisit the Instructions for Authors:www.liebertpub.com/cyberSubmit your paper for peer review online:https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cyberpsychFiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 25Issue 3Mar 2022 InformationCopyright 2022, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishersTo cite this article:Guest Editors: John Waterworth and Ingvar Tjostheim.Call for Special Issue Papers: The Psychosocial Impacts of Digital Travel.Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.Mar 2022.161-162.http://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2022.29242.cfpPublished in Volume: 25 Issue 3: March 16, 2022Online Ahead of Print:February 24, 2022PDF download

This open access Pivot examines the nature of the digital travel experience, drawing on theory and data to explore whether virtual travel can feel real.

Dark patterns refer to tricks built into websites and apps to manipulate users into acting unintentionally and detrimentally. An important issue is how such patterns might affect behaviour when actors are manoeuvred towards the sharing of their personal data, as exemplified in choices we face when downloading Apps or signing up for services provided on the internet. This paper presents our exploratory research into understanding the intention and subsequent actions of older teenagers responding to issues of personal data collection and (mis)use. The research is based on the competitive board-game Dark Pattern, in which players install apps, draw dark pattern cards, and make choices about the sharing of personal data. To win the game, a player must share as little data as possible and play cards that punish other players. We were interested to find out the extent to which the game was able to convey types of dark patterns to the players. Additionally, we wanted to explore how players’ perceptions of risks in data-sharing associated with their intention to protect their personal data. Finally, we were interested to explore potential gender difference, and whether this might be associated with intention to protect personal data. 56 of the students who played the game answered a subsequent survey with questions about their experiences and the data was analysed using Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Despite the findings showing that playing the game had only limited impact on knowledge about dark patterns matters, the analysis of the relationship with the factors in our model shows that knowledge has a significant contribution on behavioural intention, demonstrating that students with high dark pattern knowledge also report higher intention to take steps to protect their data.

Phishing is a form of online identity theft that aims to steal sensitive information such as online banking passwords and credit card information from users.Data is key for the digital economy, but disclosing personal data online increases vulnerabilities and the likelihood of experiencing negative consequences from disclosure.In this paper, we analyze willingness to share personal data, a preference for an intuitive decision style and susceptibility to phishes.We report the results of three large-scale national studies in Norway that included the cognitive reflection test (CRT) and a choice experiment on willingness to share personal data.With a binary logistic regression method, we analyzed the relationship between the CRT, willingness to share data and demographical variables with susceptibility to phishes as the outcome variable.Our main finding is that the willingness to share personal data and an intuitive thinking style significantly predict the probability of falling for phish.These results are based on three largescale studies with national populations, in contrast to earlier studies that in most cases relying on student populations, giving them greater validity. 2.1.