An examination of the calibration and resolution skills in phishing email detection

This study examines individuals' calibration and resolution skills in phishing email detection and tests the effects of several factors on both skills. It shows that calibration and resolution are two distinct capabilities of a person to detect phishing emails, and they are subject to the impacts of different factors: while calibration is influenced mostly by task factors such as familiarity with the emails, time to judgment, variability of time to judgment, and task easiness, resolution is influenced by both task factors such as variability of time to judgment and familiarity with the entity in the email, and individual characteristics such as online transaction experience and prior victimization of phishing attacks. The theoretical implication of the study is addressed, and the practical implication for designing effective training programs to improve one's phishing detection ability is also discussed.