An Examination of The Role of Big Five Personality Traits, Cognitive Processes And Heuristics on Individuals’ Phishing Attack Susceptibility Levels

The current research aims to investigate psychological factors that impact levels of individual susceptibility levels to online phishing attacks. A critical review of existing literature was conducted focusing on relevant factors that affect level of online risk, including The Big Five Personality traits and cognitive processes such as heuristic based thinking. Also investigated were the impact of urgency cues, online habits, and the Covid-19 pandemic on susceptibility levels. During this literature review, relationships between these factors that are currently mainly unexplored were also established to address gaps in existing literature and broaden the scope of understanding surrounding this topic.