Perceived Criminality of Cyber-Harassing Behaviors among Undergraduate Students in the United Kingdom

• DOI: 10.4018/ijcbpl.2012100104
• Publication Date: 2013-02-15T22:49:29Z
• Authors: Catherine Millman; Monica Whitty; Belinda Winder; Mark D. Griffiths
• Keywords: Harassment

Whilst cyber-harassment is a criminal act within the United Kingdom, there little research examining whether cyber-harassing behaviors are perceived as criminal. This paper assesses ‘Big Five’ personality characteristics and Internet self-efficacy influence criminality of behaviors. The sample comprised 320 undergraduate students who completed an online survey measuring 18 Principal axis factoring revealed three dimensions: malicious behavior, harassing messages, software. High self-efficacious individuals (i.e., those feel more in control interactions) were likely than low to perceive software Low-agreeable high-agreeable messages influenced for some behaviors, findings not consistent. discusses implications future research.