{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/129845"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/129845","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Overcoming resistance to cybersecurity awareness training: A test of narrative, humor, and fear appeals","abstract":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-10-20 without embargo terms","abstract_html":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-10-20 without embargo terms","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Morrow, Ethan"],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Communication","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Quick, Brian L.","Quick, Brian L","Bigsby, Elisabeth","Dixon, Travis L","Barley, William C."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-07-08","date_published":"2025-07-08","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:05Z","subjects":["Entertainment","Narrative","Humor","Fear","Persuasion","Resistance","Cybersecurity","Awareness Training","Risk Communication"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Ethan Morrow"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129845","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Quick, Brian L.","Quick, Brian L","Bigsby, Elisabeth","Dixon, Travis L","Barley, William C."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Morrow, Ethan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-07-08","2025-08"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Communication"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Entertainment","Narrative","Humor","Fear","Persuasion","Resistance","Cybersecurity","Awareness Training","Risk Communication"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Ethan Morrow"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129845"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-10-20 without embargo terms","The student, Ethan Morrow, accepted the attached license on 2025-07-08 at 14:12.","The student, Ethan Morrow, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-07-08 at 14:28.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-07-08 at 16:23.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22442 on 2025-10-20 at 16:57:32","Cyberattacks present a major threat to both individuals and organizations. One institution that is particularly susceptible is higher education, due to its high turnover of students and open culture. Although many attacks can be stopped by software or firewalls, some rely on human fallibilities to obtain information or access to a system. To reduce the potential impact of human error, many organizations require users to undergo cybersecurity awareness training. However, these trainings are often viewed as scary, confusing, or boring, which limits their potential effectiveness. In this dissertation, I explore the potential for narratives and emotional appeals (fear, incongruent humor, superiority humor) to overcome resistance to these interventions, drawing from several communication theories. I collect a final sample of 677 undergraduate students from a large Midwestern university for this experiment. The results support the use of a narrative message structure, relative to a non-narrative structure, due to its ability to increase transportation into the messages and, indirectly, increase risk and efficacy perceptions. This investigation also finds that threatening narratives may lead to greater persuasion than humorous narratives in the short term, especially for character-related persuasive mechanisms. I discuss the theoretical implications of these findings, including calls for further investigation into the role of character efficacy and the relationship between message length and freedom threat perceptions. Furthermore, I consider the practical implications for cybersecurity awareness and—more broadly—risk interventions, with a focus on use cases for positive emotional appeals, such as humor."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Overcoming resistance to cybersecurity awareness training: A test of narrative, humor, and fear appeals"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Quick, Brian L.","Quick, Brian L","Bigsby, Elisabeth","Dixon, Travis L","Barley, William C."],"dc:creator":["Morrow, Ethan"],"dc:date":["2025-07-08","2025-08"],"dc:description":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2025-10-20 without embargo terms","The student, Ethan Morrow, accepted the attached license on 2025-07-08 at 14:12.","The student, Ethan Morrow, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-07-08 at 14:28.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-07-08 at 16:23.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22442 on 2025-10-20 at 16:57:32","Cyberattacks present a major threat to both individuals and organizations. One institution that is particularly susceptible is higher education, due to its high turnover of students and open culture. Although many attacks can be stopped by software or firewalls, some rely on human fallibilities to obtain information or access to a system. To reduce the potential impact of human error, many organizations require users to undergo cybersecurity awareness training. However, these trainings are often viewed as scary, confusing, or boring, which limits their potential effectiveness. In this dissertation, I explore the potential for narratives and emotional appeals (fear, incongruent humor, superiority humor) to overcome resistance to these interventions, drawing from several communication theories. I collect a final sample of 677 undergraduate students from a large Midwestern university for this experiment. The results support the use of a narrative message structure, relative to a non-narrative structure, due to its ability to increase transportation into the messages and, indirectly, increase risk and efficacy perceptions. This investigation also finds that threatening narratives may lead to greater persuasion than humorous narratives in the short term, especially for character-related persuasive mechanisms. I discuss the theoretical implications of these findings, including calls for further investigation into the role of character efficacy and the relationship between message length and freedom threat perceptions. Furthermore, I consider the practical implications for cybersecurity awareness and—more broadly—risk interventions, with a focus on use cases for positive emotional appeals, such as humor."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/129845"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2025 Ethan Morrow"],"dc:subject":["Entertainment","Narrative","Humor","Fear","Persuasion","Resistance","Cybersecurity","Awareness Training","Risk Communication"],"dc:title":["Overcoming resistance to cybersecurity awareness training: A test of narrative, humor, and fear appeals"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Communication"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:05Z"}