The Role of Self-Efficacy in IT Employee Cybersecurity Safety Behavior

In today’s digital world, cybersecurity represents a high-stakes contest between attackers and defenders. As technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and digital payment advance, adversaries continually adapt their tactics, exploiting vulnerabilities, including poor password practices, in cloud environments. Despite substantial investments in cyber awareness and technical controls, 72–95% of cybersecurity breaches result from employee behavior, emphasizing the need to understand the drivers of IT employees’ actions. This study applies structural equation modeling to survey data from n = 226 IT professionals with direct threat experience, testing an extended Theory of Planned Behavior that incorporates self-efficacy. Results indicate that perceived behavioral control is the strongest predictor of cybersecurity behavior, followed by subjective norms and attitudes. Self-efficacy significantly influences both attitudes and subjective norms. Overall, the model explains 62.2% of the variance in cybersecurity behavior, outperforming prior models. The findings provide actionable insights for strengthening self-efficacy and introduce the behavioral entanglement framework.