Abstract
This paper reports on the results of a survey designed to study the psychological characteristics of a sample of cybersecurity competition participants from Cybersecurity Awareness Week (one of the largest cybersecurity competitions in the USA). By comparing the personality, vocational interests, culture, decision-making style and attachment style between participants who reported their intention to enter cybersecurity careers post-competition and those who did not, we evaluated the effectiveness of cybersecurity competitions as a recruitment tool. Overall, most cybersecurity competition participants tended to be high in openness, rational decision-making style, and investigative interests. Conversely, participants scored lower on neuroticism, intuitive decision-making style, and realistic interests. Individuals’ scores on investigative interests, openness to experience, rational decision-making, and self-efficacy were good predictors of their intention to enter cybersecurity careers post-competition. To increase the influx of people into cybersecurity careers, cybersecurity competitions can be designed to attract more people with these characteristics.
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