What drives new knowledge in human cybersecurity behavior? Insights from bibliometrics and thematic review

Abstract

Human cybersecurity behavior is an intensely debated topic among researchers and practitioners; however, most approaches highlight forms of hegemonic knowledge centered on Eurocentric paradigms. This research delineates and analyzes the main trends in the spectrum of human cybersecurity relations through a bibliometric analysis of relevant Web of Science publications from 2000 to 2024 (N = 910) and a subsequent thematic review. Our time-zone analysis shows a gradual transition of this knowledge field from hard manifestations of power (such as computer crime or cyberterrorism) to softer and “exotic” forms of power (such as the metaverse, innovation, persuasion, or cryptocurrency). In addition, utilizing the Foucauldian power/knowledge framework within the cybersecurity spectrum, we identify the emergence of alternative forms of counter-knowledge that have been poorly debated in the literature: Global South knowledge highlights the cybersecurity discourses and practices that emerge from the Eurocentric contexts and also presents cybersecurity challenges from underrepresented cultural spaces. While ethically-oriented knowledge highlights alternative forms of cyberbehavior, such as ethical hacking, ideologically-oriented knowledge highlights social categories that are disproportionately disadvantaged in cyberspace, such as women, sexual, racial minorities, or other structural victims debated within a decolonialist framework.