Home Is Where the Smart Is: Development and Validation of the Cybersecurity Self-Efficacy in Smart Homes (CySESH) Scale

The ubiquity of devices connected to the internet raises concerns about the security and privacy of smart homes. The efectiveness of interventions to support secure user behaviors is limited by a lack of validated instruments to measure relevant psychological constructs, such as self-efcacy -the belief that one is able to perform certain behaviors. We developed and validated the Cybersecurity Self-Efcacy in Smart Homes (CySESH) scale, a 12-item unidimensional measure of domain-specifc self-efcacy beliefs, across fve studies ( = 1247). Three pilot studies generated and refned an item pool. We report evidence from one initial and one major, preregistered validation study for (1) excellent reliability ( = 0.90), (2) convergent validity with self-efcacy in information security ( SEIS = 0.64, < .001), and (3) discriminant validity with outcome expectations ( OE = 0.26, < .001), self-esteem ( RSE = 0.17, < .001), and optimism ( LOT-R = 0.18, < .001). We discuss CySESH's potential to advance future HCI research on cybersecurity, practitioner user assessments, and implications for consumer protection policy.

• Human-centered computing → HCI design and evaluation methods; • Security and privacy → Human and societal aspects of security and privacy.