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The rapid development of mobile communication technology has increased the diffusion of mobile phones and its business applications. However, one of the constant factors that influence the adoption of mobile services is perceived security, which is one of the main reasons that make people hesitant to use mobile phones for shopping, payment and banking services (Goeke & Pousttchi, 2010; Schierz et al., 2010; Teoh & Md-Nor, 2007; Linck et al. 2006). Security concerns for mobile phones have also been confirmed by recent surveys. For example, a recent global survey (2012) of 768 information technology (IT) professionals conducted by Dimensional Research (2012) in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan showed that 89 per cent of consumers have mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets that connect to corporate networks. Interestingly, the results showed that 71 per cent of consumers claim that mobile devices have contributed to increased security incidents. According to another survey conducted by KPMG (2012), of 4,000 mobile phone users, it was found that approximately 87 per cent have concerns about both privacy and security on their mobile phone.
Many research studies have investigated security perception in different contexts such as e-commerce and e-banking (Halaweh, 2011; Casaló et al, 2007; Singh, 2006; Yenisey et al. 2005; Turner et al., 2001). However, very little research has investigated this issue within the general mobile context without limiting this to a particular domain (e.g. payment, banking and commerce). Linck et al. (2006) pointed out that although the issue of security is considered a major challenge of mobile service acceptance, the research on this issue is quite rare to date (2006), especially from the user’s perspective. Furthermore, although some recent related research (Chin et al., 2012; Ben-Asher et al., 2011; Ion et al., 2010) has shed light on this issue, it is necessary to investigate security perception; different perceptions arise from different users and contexts around the world, which is also needed to provide new and broad insight into this area of research within the mobile context. In addition, the continuous development and advancement of the mobile technology has led to new security and privacy concerns that did not previously exist, as this research will show. Therefore, investigating security perception within the mobile context is a vital area of research. This research aims to investigate how users currently perceive the security of mobile phones.
The structure of this paper is organised as follows: Section 2 presents a literature review on security perception and privacy of mobile phones. Section 3 presents the adopted research methodology. Section 4 presents the research findings. Section 5 provides a discussion, practical implications, and the conclusion.