To counter cyber threats, countries worldwide invest resources in enhancing their cybersecurity posture. Migration influx sometimes fuels such investment to counter the escalation of vulnerabilities induced by migration. This paper aims to investigate the relationship among migration influx, national cybersecurity maturity and national wellbeing, in presence of the moderating role by social media monitoring.
Using ten years of panel data for 120 countries, the authors conducted a moderated-mediation analysis following Baron and Kenny’s method, along with Hayes’ PROCESS macro bootstrapping. Post the initial analysis on a global scale, the authors have conducted deeper analyses of country cohorts, based on their cybersecurity maturities.
Results reveal that securitization of migrants entails immediate endowment of cybersecurity measures of the host country, leading to an improvement in its national wellbeing. Social media monitoring in the backdrop of migration influx, however, exhibits a negative moderating effect on the above-mediated relationship.
Host countries may modulate their border policies – whether to open, close or maintain the status quo – based on their respective cybersecurity maturity levels. Also, countries should maintain their social media monitoring below a certain threshold to fully harness the positive effect of migration influx on national wellbeing.
This study becomes much relevant in the current context when migration and cybersecurity are critical concerns for governments worldwide. Prior research has either ignored them or predominantly examined them in isolation.
