Identification and Validation of Social Media Socio-Technical Information Security Factors with Respect to Usable-Security Principles

The goal of this manuscript is to present a research finding, based on a study conducted to identify, examine, and validate Social Media (SM) socio-technical information security factors, in line with usable-security principles. The study followed literature search techniques, as well as theoretical and empirical methods of factor validation. The strategy used in literature search includes Boolean keywords search, and citation guides, using mainly web of science databases. As guided by study objectives, 9 SM socio-technical factors were identified, verified and validated. Both theoretical and empirical validation processes were followed. Thus, a theoretical validity test was conducted on 45 Likert scale items, involving 10 subject experts. From the score ratings of the experts, Content Validity Index (CVI) was calculated to determine the degree to which the identified factors exhibit appropriate items for the construct being measured, and 7 factors attained an adequate level of validity index. However, for reliability test, 32 respondents and 45 Likert scale items were used. Whereby, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α-values) were generated using SPSS. Subsequently, 8 factors attained an adequate level of reliability. Overall, the validated factors include; 1) usability—visibility, learnability, and satisfaction; 2) education and training—help and documentation; 3) SM technology development—error handling, and revocability; 4) information security —security, privacy, and expressiveness. In this case, the confirmed factors would add knowledge by providing a theoretical basis for rationalizing information security requirements on SM usage.