Designing effective cybersecurity warnings: The role of message framing and cognitive load in digital banking
Lee-Anne Holmes · Fani Radebe · Kennedy Njenga ORCID ↗
International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy · 2026 · Vol. 8 / Issue 3 · 203-217
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Abstract
How users perceive and respond to cybersecurity warning messages under cognitively demanding conditions can result in unintended cybersecurity failures. Digital banking environments can create cognitively demanding conditions, as users are required to make quick decisions while managing many other routine tasks. This can lead to cognitive overload and pressure to comply with cybersecurity warning messages. This study examined how cybersecurity messages are framed and how this framing could influence behavioural responses under cognitively demanding conditions. The study draws on behavioural and psychological perspectives, including the Cognitive Bias Theory, the Framing Effect, and the Cognitive Load Theory, offering critical insights into compliance cybersecurity behaviour. A quantitative survey was administered to 267 South African users in digital banking environments. Path analysis, an extension of multiple regression analysis, was used to examine the relationships among message framing, mental load, and familiarity bias, and how these factors influence behaviour, thereby impacting digital banking resilience. Findings showed that, for organisations in digital banking to be cybersecurity resilient, such resilience is largely shaped by message framing and cognitive processing load. This means message framing is a central behavioural mechanism that shapes behaviour and an organisation's overall cybersecurity posture. Similarly, mental load affects behaviour change, meaning that concerted cognitive pressures will influence users’ ability to engage with cybersecurity warnings. Familiarity bias was negatively associated with desired behaviour change, highlighting a risk of habitual reliance on familiar cybersecurity messages. The study contributes to ongoing cybersecurity research on aligning cybersecurity communication with users’ cognitive capacity, prompting institutions to rethink and redesign clear, cognitively efficient security messages that support decision-making under pressure.
Keywords: {'name': 'Cybersecurity'}, {'name': 'Digital Banking'}, {'name': 'Message Framing'}, {'name': 'Cognitive Pressure'}
Authors & affiliations
Lee-Anne Holmes
University of Johannesburg
Fani Radebe
University of Johannesburg
Kennedy Njenga
University of Johannesburg
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