# Addressing Human Factors in Cybersecurity Leadership
## 5 Materials and Methods  
This study employed a systematic literature review as the research method of choice. [PERSON] et al. defined a systematic literature review as a critical appraisal of research journals and articles to analyze data or information needed for a particular problem or responses to a particular set of research questions [30]. [PERSON] and [PERSON] stated that a systematic literature review presents researchers with the opportunity to investigate the quality, levels, and amount of evidence that exist on a particular topic or phenomenon of interest [31]. A systematic literature review provides scholars with a much broader understanding of the area of interest as the researcher dissects and analyzes each piece of evidence independently and minutely.  
In this study, we sought evidence on the role of human factors in influencing cybersecurity leadership. Although research on human factors is broad, we narrowed down the area of interest to focus on unintentional human factors facilitating cybersecurity attacks in organizations and preventive measures adopted by organizational leaders. We followed the systematic literature review protocol to search for information that would help justify the existence of the identified problem. According to [PERSON] and [PERSON], researchers conducting a systematic literature review should adhere to the following protocols or guidelines: searching for systematic relevant literature, filtering identified literature, reviewing selected studies, critiquing the literature, interpreting the literature, and reporting the findings from the different perspectives of the reviewed studies [31].  
For this research, the first step was the identification of keywords that would facilitate the easy retrieval of information from different academic databases. The keywords used included cybersecurity, unintentional insider threats, leadership \"AND\" cybersecurity, human factors in cybersecurity leadership, cybersecurity, \"AND\" unintentional human factors. The use of search databases facilitated the literature search in various databases, including Springer, ScienceDirect, Emerald, IGI Global, IEEE explore, IDEAS, ACM Digital Library, and Google Scholar. However, most reviewed studies were obtained from the Web of Science (WoS) repositories. Given the enormous volume of research on cybersecurity and the role of human factors in cybersecurity, inclusion and exclusion criteria were adopted. As inclusion criteria, the studies included had to have been published in the last 5 years, i.e., from 2018 to date, the studies had to be focused on unintentional human factors in cybersecurity, the studies had to involve humans in both online and offline contexts, and the studies had to be qualitative, quantitative, or systematic literature reviews. Moreover, we excluded studies that were published before 2018, studies with a mixed-methods research design, and studies concentrated on cybersecurity systems rather than on humans. In addition, studies that considered autistic, deaf, or blind people were excluded.  
The initial literature review yielded numerous studies on human factors and cybersecurity, some of which were irrelevant. After filtering and analysis, we systematically reviewed 15 qualitative systematic reviews and quantitative studies on unintentional human factors in cybersecurity leadership (Table 1). This study allowed for cumulative identification of human factors and underlying mechanisms, as well as of initiatives for enforcement and suggestions for future research and practice.