Psychological determinants of mobile cyber hygiene: the role of mobile attachment in Malaysia

This study examines the psychological determinants of mobile cyber hygiene in Malaysia, focusing on how mobile attachment interacts with Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) appraisals. Mobile devices have become everyday tools, effectively “walking servers” that are used to store sensitive personal and institutional data. Yet much of what we know about cybersecurity behaviour is built on desktop contexts, leaving mobile-specific psychology, particularly emotional attachment to phones, underexplored. Aligned with this gap, the study investigates how mobile attachment interacts with PMT appraisals to shape mobile cyber hygiene, testing in particular how attachment influences intention and behaviour through threat and coping pathways. The aim was to identify and test key psychological determinants, namely mobile attachment, threat appraisal, and coping appraisal, that shape mobile cyber hygiene (intention and behaviour), grounding the model in PMT and mobile attachment theory.