Users’ attitude on perceived security of mobile cloud computing: empirical evidence from SME users in China

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to rank the users’ attitude on major components of mobile cloud computing (MCC) security and investigate the degree of impact of these components on MCC security as a whole. Design/methodology/approach Hypotheses were evolved and tested by data collected through an online survey-questionnaire. The survey was administered to 363 users from Chinese organizations. Statistical analysis was carried out and structural equation model was built to validate the interactions. Findings The eight components of MCC security in the order of importance are as follows: mobile device related, user identity related, deployment model related, application-level security issues, data related, virtualization related, network related and service delivery related. The empirical analysis validates that these security issues are having significant impact on perceived security of MCC. Practical implications Constant vigilance on these eight issues and improving the level of user awareness on these issues enhance the overall security. Social implications These issues can be used for designing and developing secured MCC system. Originality/value While several previous research has studied various security factors in the MCC security domain, a consolidated understanding on the different components of MCC security is missing. This empirical research has identified and ranked the major components of MCC security. The degree of impact of each of these components on overall MCC security is identified. This provides a different perspective for managing MCC security by explaining what components are most important.