Study Title
The Correlation Between Trait Mindfulness and Intrinsic Motivation in Cybersecurity Employees in the Eastern United States with Ten Years or Less Experience

Introduction and Purpose of the Study
You are being invited to participate in a research study. Before you decide whether to participate, it is important that you understand why the research is being conducted and what it will involve. Please read the following information carefully. If you have any questions, please contact the principal investigator using the information provided below.

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental, correlational study is to examine the relationship between trait mindfulness and intrinsic motivation among cybersecurity employees in the Eastern United States who have ten years or less of professional experience. This research is grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT), which posits that the fulfillment of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) fosters intrinsic motivation. The study seeks to contribute to an underexplored area of research by investigating whether trait mindfulness is associated with higher levels of intrinsic motivation within the cybersecurity workforce.

Eligibility Criteria
To participate in this study, you must meet all of the following criteria:

• You work in the Eastern United States (states within the Eastern Time Zone).
• You have ten (10) years or fewer of experience in the cybersecurity field.
• You are at least 18 years of age.
• You are able to read and understand English.

Study Procedures
If you agree to participate, you will be asked to complete a confidential online survey. The survey will include the following components:

Part 1: Screening Questionnaire. You will be asked to provide general background information, including your current primary job role, years of cybersecurity experience, and the approximate location (U.S. state) where you perform a majority of your cybersecurity work. No personally identifying information (e.g., name, employer, or specific location) will be collected.

Part 2: Demographic Questionnaire. You will be asked to provide general background information, including your organization type, employee number range of your organization, current mindfulness practice, participation in past mindfulness training programs, and how you accessed the survey. No personally identifying information (e.g., name, employer, or specific location) will be collected.

Part 3: Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire – Short Form (FFMQ-15). You will complete the FFMQ-15, a 15-item self-report instrument designed to measure trait mindfulness across five facets: observing, describing, acting with awareness, non-judging of inner experience, and non-reactivity to inner experience. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (never or very rarely true) to 5 (very often or always true). The FFMQ-15 has demonstrated adequate internal consistency and sensitivity to change in prior research.

Part 4: Multidimensional Work Motivation Scale (MWMS). You will complete the MWMS, a 19-item self-report instrument grounded in Self-Determination Theory (SDT) that assesses work motivation across multiple types of behavioral regulation: amotivation, external regulation (material and social), introjected regulation, identified regulation, and intrinsic motivation. Each item is rated on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (Not at all) to 7 (Completely/Entirely). The MWMS has been validated across seven languages and nine countries, demonstrating consistent factor structure and satisfactory reliability.

The survey is expected to take approximately 10–15 minutes to complete.

Potential Risks and Discomforts
This study poses minimal risk to participants. The survey does not involve any experimental treatment, intervention, or manipulation. The primary risk involves the possibility of mild discomfort when reflecting on personal experiences related to workplace stress, motivation, or mindfulness. Participation is voluntary, responses are confidential, and no sensitive personal identifiers are collected. You may skip any question you do not wish to answer, and you may discontinue your participation at any time without penalty.

Potential Benefits
Your participation will contribute to a growing body of knowledge about the well-being and motivation of cybersecurity professionals. The findings may inform organizational strategies for talent retention, employee engagement, and the promotion of mindfulness-based practices in high-stress technology environments.

Compensation
Participants recruited through Prolific will receive incentives administered directly by the Prolific platform, if those services are rendered. Participants recruited through LinkedIn will not receive compensation from any source.

Confidentiality and Data Protection
Your participation in this study is completely confidential. No personally identifiable information will be collected at any point during the survey. The researcher will collect survey response data through SurveyMonkey using a Web Link collector with Anonymous Responses enabled, which prevents the collection of respondent names, email addresses, IP addresses, and other identifying metadata. When Anonymous Responses is enabled, the following metadata fields are suppressed and excluded from both the in-platform results view and all data exports: first name, last name, email address, IP address, and custom data. SurveyMonkey does retain respondent IP addresses in backend server logs regardless of the Anonymous Responses setting; these backend logs are deleted after 13 months and are inaccessible to the researcher.

If Prolific is used as a supplemental recruitment platform, Prolific assigns each participant a pseudonymized alphanumeric Prolific ID. The researcher does not receive participants’ real names, email addresses, or other personal information from Prolific. The Prolific participant ID, passed via URL parameter solely for completion verification and compensation processing, will be stripped from the analytic dataset immediately after confirming participant completion and issuing payment. This two-platform architecture creates a structural separation: Prolific retains the identity-to-ID linkage but has no access to survey responses, while SurveyMonkey stores de-identified survey responses but has no access to participant identities. Neither platform independently holds sufficient information to re-identify a participant’s survey responses.

All data will be stored on a password-protected, encrypted device accessible only to the principal investigator. The de-identified analytic dataset will be exported from SurveyMonkey in SPSS format and stored on an encrypted, password-protected external drive accessible only to the researcher. Raw data files will be retained for a minimum of three (3) years following the completion of the study, in accordance with institutional and federal guidelines. The researcher will configure SurveyMonkey’s automatic data retention setting to 36 months. Residual copies of any data deleted from SurveyMonkey may persist on vendor backup media for up to 90 days before permanent overwrite. Following the completion of the dissertation and any resulting publications, or after the expiration of Walsh College's required data retention period, whichever is later, the researcher will permanently delete all survey responses from SurveyMonkey, destroy the encrypted external drive, and remove all local copies of the dataset.

Results of this study may be published in academic journals or presented at professional conferences. All published results will be reported in aggregate, and no individual participant will be identifiable.

Voluntary Participation and Right to Withdraw
Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary. You are under no obligation to participate, and your decision will not affect your relationship with your employer, the researcher, or Walsh College in any way.

You may withdraw from the study at any time prior to submitting your survey responses by simply closing the browser window. Because the survey is confidential, once you submit your responses, it will not be possible to identify or remove your individual data from the dataset.

Questions, Concerns, or Complaints
If you have any questions about this study, please contact the principal investigator (PI):

Statement of Consent
By clicking the button below (or by proceeding to the survey), you acknowledge and agree to the following:

• I have read and understood the information provided in this informed consent form.
• I have had the opportunity to ask questions, and any questions I have asked have been answered to my satisfaction.
• I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I may withdraw at any time prior to submitting my responses without penalty.
• I understand that my responses are confidential and cannot be linked to my identity.
• I confirm that I meet the eligibility criteria outlined above.
• I voluntarily agree to participate in this research study.