Cultural and Gender Differences in Password Behaviors: Evidence from China, Turkey and the UK

A survey investigated the password behaviors of a sample of 202 men and women from three countries with very different cultures: China, Turkey and the UK. The survey covered four areas: the context of password use, password creation, password management and attitudes to passwords. A complex pattern of country and gender differences emerged, with most country differences in the context of password use and password creation behaviors, and gender differences in context of password use, password creation and management behaviors. There was little support for three hypotheses concerning cultural differences in password behaviors derived from the dimensions of Power Distance, Individualism-Collectivism, and Uncertainty Avoidance. However, the results suggest that both cultural background and gender need to be taken into account when studying users' password behaviors.