THE IMPACT OF GENDER MODERATION ON AUDITORS' INTENTION TO ADOPT CYBERSECURITY: A TAM AND PMT FRAMEWORKS APPROACH

The growing complexity of cyber threats in the auditing environment has intensified the need to understand the factors that drive auditors to adopt cybersecurity technologies. This study explores the impact of gender moderation on auditors' intention to adopt cybersecurity technologies by utilizing the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Protection Motivation Theory (PMT). A quantitative approach was employed, with data collected from 429 auditors working in public accounting firms across Indonesia through structured questionnaires. After excluding 16 outliers with highly fluctuating responses, the final sample consisted of 413 respondents. Structural Equation Modeling-Partial Least Squares method (PLS-SEM) was employed using SmartPLS to analyze the data. The findings indicate that Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Severity, Perceived Vulnerability, Perceived Response Efficacy, and Perceived Self-Efficacy significantly influence auditors' intention to adopt cybersecurity technologies. However, Perceived Ease of Use does not have a significant impact. Additionally, gender did not moderate the relationship between these factors and auditors’ adoption intention. These results suggest that although perceptual differences between male and female auditors exist, they are not substantial enough to warrant gender-specific cybersecurity adoption strategies. Therefore, cybersecurity implementation policies can be applied universally across auditors irrespective of gender.