The moderating impact of technology on cyberfraud perpetration and organisation cybersecurity outcomes

Purpose This study assesses the moderating impact of technology in the relationship between cyberfraud perpetration and organisation cybersecurity outcomes such as blocked attacks, response to cyber threats, increase in uptime, reduction in financial loss due to cyberfraud, data breaches and operational disruption. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a quantitative survey using a questionnaire as the survey instrument to obtain a primary dataset from the 17 licensed banks in South Africa. It draws insights from the criminological and information systems theories to determine the moderating role of technology in the relationship between cyberfraud occurrence and cybersecurity outcomes. Primary data were collected and moderation analysis was carried out in the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 29 environment). Findings The outcome of the interaction term between cyberfraud perpetration and organisation's technological ability is statistically significant and negative (β = −1.462, p < 0.05). This shows that technology moderates the relationship between cyberfraud perpetration and organisation's security outcomes. The results show that banks experiencing a high rate of cyberfraud perpetration are also the ones investing more in cybersecurity measures and reporting more controls and vice versa. While the preventive and especially the detective technologies significantly moderate and mitigate cyberfraud perpetration effect, the response technologies exhibit no significant buffering role, thus indicating limited effectiveness. Research limitations/implications The article contributes to knowledge by establishing the dual role of technology as a cyberfraud enabler and mitigator, thus advocating for its moderating role. The outcome of this study as well as the policy recommendations can assist policymakers and financial institutions in moderating technology to mitigate cyberfraud perpetration. Practical implications The findings and policy recommendations can assist policymakers and the banking institutions in moderating technology to mitigate cyberfraud perpetration. Originality/value The study is novel in that it contributes conceptually, methodologically and empirically to technology as a moderating variable between cyberfraud perpetration and organisation's security outcomes.