Research Article

Quantifying the Socio-Technical Factors Influencing Cybersecurity Compliance Among Remote Healthcare Workers: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior Approach

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Digit. Soc. Rev., 2026, 1 (1), 15-21, ISSN 3106-8987

Abstract

The rapid shift toward remote work environments within healthcare organizations has heightened cybersecurity vulnerabilities, making individual security compliance critical for safeguarding sensitive patient data. This study quantifies the socio-technical factors influencing cybersecurity compliance among remote healthcare workers using an Extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) framework. Incorporating organizational security climate, perceived work stress, and technical system usability alongside classic TPB constructs (attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control), a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was applied to survey data collected from 412 remote clinical and administrative healthcare personnel across North America and Europe. The empirical findings reveal that while attitude and perceived behavioral control strongly predict compliance intention (β = 0.34, p < 0.001 and β = 0.28, p < 0.001, respectively), organizational security climate exerts significant direct and indirect positive effects on compliance behavior. Conversely, high perceived work stress and poor usability of security controls significantly attenuate compliance practices (β = -0.19, p < 0.01). The integrated socio-technical model accounts for 62.1% of the variance in cybersecurity compliance behaviors. These results highlight the necessity of designing user-centric security protocols and fostering a supportive security culture rather than relying solely on mandatory policy enforcement in distributed healthcare settings.

Keywords theory of planned behavior Cybersecurity Compliance Remote Healthcare Workers Socio-Technical Systems Digital Health Governance
Authors 2

The team behind this paper

2 authors, 2 institutions.

This paper National Taiwan University — Taiwan National Taiwan Univers… 1 author University of Cape Town — South Africa University of Cape Town 1 author Prof. Mei-Ling Chen — corresponding author MC Prof. Mei-Ling Chen ✉ Dr. Amara Okeke AO Dr. Amara Okeke

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73 reads over 3 months.

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Bibliographic Information

Prof. Mei-Ling Chen, Dr. Amara Okeke, (2026). Quantifying the Socio-Technical Factors Influencing Cybersecurity Compliance Among Remote Healthcare Workers: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior Approach, Digital & Social Review, 1(1): 15-21
Bibtex Citation
@article{prof._mei-ling_chen2026dsr,
author = {Prof. Mei-Ling Chen and Dr. Amara Okeke},
title = {Quantifying the Socio-Technical Factors Influencing Cybersecurity Compliance Among Remote Healthcare Workers: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior Approach},
journal = {Digital & Social Review},
year = {2026},
volume = {1},
number = {1},
pages = {15-21},
doi = {},
url = {https://scimatic.org/index.php/show_manuscript/8968}
}
APA Citation
Chen, P.M., Okeke, D.A., (2026). Quantifying the Socio-Technical Factors Influencing Cybersecurity Compliance Among Remote Healthcare Workers: An Extended Theory of Planned Behavior Approach. Digital & Social Review, 1(1), 15-21. https://doi.org/

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