The measurement, intensity and determinants of fear of cybercrime: A systematic review

It has only been recently that fear of crime scholars have shifted their attention to online contexts. The current systematic review provides an overview of available studies on measurement, intensity and determinants of fear of cybercrime. While matters of measurement and conceptualisation has sprung a sizeable and vivid debate in the general fear of crime literature, we aim to scope this debate for the online context by scrutinizing the available knowledge base. At the same time, and by providing an overview of correlates of fear of cybercrime, we aim to provide a fertile ground for theory building specific to the online context. A comprehensive literature search was conducted, yielding a total of 28 relevant studies from a range of (sub)disciplines, using a variety of measures in terms of the particular emotion measured (fear, worry, anxiety) and the type of cybercrime it related to. We find considerable agreement between studies on classic fear of crime indicators such as gender, victimization and risk perception. At the same time, various studies report a relationship between fear of cybercrime and what is termed 'constrained behavior', as outcome measure. Implications of these findings, and future directions for fear of cybercrime research are discussed.