07/11/2022
By Karen Mullins
The School of Criminology & Justice Studies in the College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences invites you to the doctoral dissertation defense by Michael J. Palmieri entitled, "Decrypting Personality: The Effect of Motivation, Social Power, and Anonymity on Cybercrime.”
Date: Friday, July 22
Time: 10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
Location: Via Zoom
Committee:
- Neil Shortland, Chair
- Jason Rydberg
- Claire Seungeun Lee
- Robert Brown, UMES
Abstract: Cybercrime costs billions of dollars annually. In the US alone, it is estimated the country lost $4.2 billion in 2020. While research into cybercrime has been ongoing for over 20 years, the majority of this has focused on victimization and the application of routine activity theory. More recent research has begun to focus on the offenders and their characteristics, however, our insights into offenders are still limited. This study expands on the work of Palmieri et al. (2021) by integrating theoretical facets related to the nature of cyberspace and the individual into the existing reinforcement sensitivity theory framework in a more holistic approach to explaining the decision to and motivations behind engaging in cybercrime using a surveyed sample of Amazon Mechanical Turkers. Results indicate that an integrated theoretical framework which encompasses internal and external motivation as well as external influences, and the effect of the environment is appropriate in the study of cybercrime. There is also evidence of mediating effects occurring between the variables in an integrated online RST model and the decision to engage in cybercrime. Theoretical and policy implications are also discussed.