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Cybercrime's tendencies of the teenagers in the COVID-19 era: assessing the influence of mobile games, social networks and religious attitudes

Yang Li (School of Administration, Nanjing Forest Police College, Nanjing, China)
Jiaze Li (School of Foreign Studies, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China)
Qi Fan (Institute of Mental Health, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing, China)
Zhihong Wang (School of Administration, Nanjing Forest Police College, Nanjing, China)

Kybernetes

ISSN: 0368-492X

Article publication date: 17 January 2022

626

Abstract

Purpose

The teenager community is the most affected community by cybercrime in the COVID-19 era. Increasing social networks and facilitating teenager access to the Internet have increased the probability of cybercrimes. On the other hand, entertainment such as mobile and computer games is top-rated among teenagers. Teenagers' tendency to cybercrime may be influenced by individual, parent, social, economic and political factors. Studying the impact of social networks, mobile games and parents' religious attitudes on teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era is the primary goal of this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

The outbreak of COVID-19 caused a considerable change in the world and the lifestyle of all people. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) was also affected by the special conditions of this virus. Changes in ICT and rapid access to it have empowered individuals and organizations, and people have increased civic participation and interaction through ICT. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 has created new challenges for the government and citizens and may cause new crimes. Cybercrime is a type of crime that occurs in a cyber environment. These crimes range from invasions of privacy to crimes in which the offender vaguely paralyzes the macroeconomic. In this research, 265 students of high schools and universities are used for collecting data by utilizing a survey. Measuring actions have been done in all surveys employing a Likert scale. The causal pattern is assessed through a constructional equation modeling procedure to study the scheme's validity and reliability.

Findings

The outcomes have indicated that social networks have no significant relationship with teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era. Mobile games have a mild effect on teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era, and parents' religious attitudes significantly impact teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era.

Research limitations/implications

Current research also has some restrictions that must be noticed in assessing the outcomes. First, sample research was selected from high schools and universities in one city. So, the size of the model is small, and the generalization of results is limited. Second, this research may have ignored other variables that affect the tendency of teenagers' to cybercrime. Future researchers intend to investigate the parents' upbringing system's impact on teenager's trend to cybercrime in the COVID-19 era. Future research can also examine practical factors such as parental upbringing, attitudes toward technology development and virtual addiction in the COVID-19 era.

Originality/value

In this study, teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era is investigated, and a procedure is applied depending on a practical occasion. This article's offered sample provides a perfect framework for influencing parents' social networks, mobile games and religious attitudes on teenagers' tendency to cybercrimes in the COVID-19 era.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: This work was sponsored by Jiangsu Social Science Foundation (15JYB018) and Jiangsu Universities in Philosophy and Social Science Foundation (2015SJD257).

The contribution to this paper is equal between first and second authors.

Retraction notice: The publishers of Kybernetes wish to retract the article “Cybercrime’s tendencies of the teenagers in the COVID-19 era: assessing the influence of mobile games, social networks and religious attitudes” by Y. Li, J. Li, Q. Fan and Z. Wang which appeared ahead of print. It has come to our attention that large portions of this article are taken, without attribution, from previously submitted articles by other authors. The Kybernetes submission guidelines make it clear that articles must be original. The publishers of the journal sincerely apologize to the readers.

Citation

Li, Y., Li, J., Fan, Q. and Wang, Z. (2022), "Cybercrime's tendencies of the teenagers in the COVID-19 era: assessing the influence of mobile games, social networks and religious attitudes", Kybernetes, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/K-07-2021-0582

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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