| ARB | Academic Review Board | Internal Capitol Technology University committee that reviews and approves academic projects before IRB submission. |
| AVE | Average Variance Extracted | A measure used to evaluate convergent validity in structural equation modeling. |
| CI | Confidence Interval | A range of values within which a population parameter is expected to fall with a specified level of confidence. |
| CIRP | Cyber Incident Response Plan | A documented, structured plan detailing how an organization responds to and recovers from a cyber incident. |
| CR | Composite Reliability | A reliability measure used to assess internal consistency in PLS-SEM. |
| CTI | Cyber Threat Intelligence | Intelligence about cyber threats, threat actors, vulnerabilities, indicators, tactics, techniques, and procedures that may inform cyber defense. |
| C-TAM-TPB | Combined Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior | The C-TAM-TPB combines perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control to help explain technology adoption. |
| df | Degrees of Freedom | The number of independent pieces of information available to estimate a parameter or test statistic. |
| DOI | Diffusion of Innovations Theory | The DOI emphasizes adopter categories and innovation characteristics such as relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability. |
| DV | Dependent Variable | The outcome variable measured in research to assess the effect of the independent variable or variables. |
| HTMT | Heterotrait–Monotrait Ratio | A discriminant validity metric used to assess whether constructs are empirically distinct. |
| IR | Incident Response | The organized process of detecting, analyzing, containing, eradicating, and recovering from cyber incidents. |
| IRB | Institutional Review Board | Governing body ensuring human-subject research meets ethical and regulatory standards. |
| IRP | Incident Response Plan | A formal plan that outlines responsibilities, procedures, communication protocols, and recovery steps for managing incidents. |
| IV | Independent Variable | Variable manipulated, categorized, or examined to observe or explain its effect on the dependent variable. |
| MM | Motivational Model | The MM includes concepts such as enjoyment, perceived usefulness, and reward-related motivation. |
| MPCU | Model of PC Utilization | The MPCU was one of the models synthesized into the UTAUT. |
| OSINT | Open Source Intelligence | Intelligence collected from publicly available sources. |
| PLS-SEM | Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling | A statistical method for analyzing complex relationships between observed and latent variables. |
| Q² | Predictive Relevance | A PLS-SEM measure used to assess whether a model has predictive capability for a construct. |
| R² | Coefficient of Determination | A statistic indicating how much variance in an endogenous construct is explained by its predictors. |
| SCT | Social Cognitive Theory | SCT emphasizes concepts such as self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and observational learning. |
| SD | Standard Deviation | A measure of how much individual scores vary around the mean. |
| SE | Standard Error | The standard deviation of a sampling distribution, often used in confidence intervals and significance testing. |
| SEM | Structural Equation Modeling | A statistical technique analyzing structural relationships between latent constructs. |
| SOC | Security Operations Center | A team or function responsible for monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and responding to cybersecurity events and incidents. |
| SPSS | Statistical Package for the Social Sciences | Statistical software commonly used for data management, descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, and inferential testing. |
| TAM | Technology Acceptance Model | The TAM is one of the most widely used models in technology-adoption research. |
| TPB | Theory of Planned Behavior | The TPB extends the Theory of Reasoned Action by accounting for perceived control over behavior. |
| TRA | Theory of Reasoned Action | The TRA is a foundational model in behavioral-intention research. |
| UTAUT | Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology | The UTAUT is an important foundation for later technology-adoption research. |
| UTAUT2 | Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 | The UTAUT2 is often used to study individual-level behavioral intentions related to technology adoption. |
| VIF | Variance Inflation Factor | A statistic used to assess collinearity among predictor variables. |