Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 17, No. 3, 2014 261 Copyright © 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. User awareness of social media security: the public sector framework Ali Hussein Saleh Zolait*, Reem R. Al-Anizi, Suhair Ababneh, Fatima BuAsalli and Noora Butaiba Department of Information Systems, College of Information Technology, University of Bahrain, P.O. Box 32038, Sakhir, Kingdom of Bahrain E-mail: alizolait@gmail.com E-mail: reem.alanizi@gmail.com E-mail: suhair.ababneh@gmail.com E-mail: f.buasalli@gmail.com E-mail: nooramohd07@hotmail.com *Corresponding author Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine factors affecting user security concerns among social media users in the educational sector. The researchers employed a quantitative research approach because the subject matter needs further definition. This aids researchers in determining a suitable research design and data collection method, as well as to examine the hypotheses and proposition developed in the current study. The researchers also used the quantitative method to test hypotheses used to propose a link between factors associated with social media, information security, and user awareness. Using convenience sampling of 338 social media users selected randomly and including students and staff members of the University of Bahrain, as well as individuals from outside of the University of Bahrain. The findings reveal that, both user awareness and user knowledge have strong influences on user attitude to behave securely when using such social media. User knowledge has an indirect effect on individual intention to behave securely. In addition, researchers find that respondents within a field of study related to information security have a higher awareness, which is reflected in their intention. Finally, intention alone may not be sufficient to instruct the level of awareness a user has regarding social media security concerns. Keywords: social media; information systems; information security; social media security; e-government; security awareness; Bahrain. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Zolait, A.H.S., Al-Anizi, R.R., Ababneh, S., BuAsalli, F. and Butaiba, N. (2014) ‘User awareness of social media security: the public sector framework’, Int. J. Business Information Systems, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp.261–282. Biographical notes: Ali Hussein Saleh Zolait is an Assistant Professor of Management Information Systems at the College of Information Technology, Bahrain University, Kingdom of Bahrain. His research interests are MIS, e-banking, acceptance of innovation, security and e-commerce. He has several articles published in leading international journals of information systems.