"Most awareness tells people what to do. BehaviourOps lets them practise it."
The problem with cyber awareness training is not the content. It's the format. Passive learning - click-through modules, annual compliance refreshers, slide decks - produces retention rates of around 10%. People watch it. They forget it. They click the link anyway. The research is clear on why. And on what works instead. BehaviourOps is built on three evidence bases: active learning science, behavioural change theory (COM-B), and the emerging field of cyber serious games.
Fewer failures with active learning
Meta-analysis of 225 studies, PNAS
Peer-reviewed studies analysed on active learning vs traditional lecture formats
Freeman et al., PNAS
Cyber serious game studies reviewed
2025 systematic review, ScienceDirect
A meta-analysis of 225 studies found failure rates were 33.8% under traditional lecture formats versus 21.8% with active learning. People learn better by doing.
PNAS - Freeman et al.
A 2025 cyber training meta-analysis found that training had a significantly stronger effect on attitudes and knowledge than on actual behaviour. Knowing the risk and acting differently under pressure are not the same thing.
ScienceDirect - 2025 meta-analysis
The COM-B model identifies three conditions required for behaviour change: Capability, Opportunity, and Motivation. Information alone satisfies none of them. BehaviourOps games are designed to create all three.
PMC - Michie et al., COM-B System
A 2025 systematic review analysed 53 peer-reviewed studies on cyber serious games published between 2014 and early 2024. The field is growing, the evidence is building, and the results are consistent.
ScienceDirect - 2025 systematic review
A systematic review on serious gaming for behaviour change found that games influence human behaviour through engaging experiences, decision-making, feedback loops, and consequence. These are the design principles BehaviourOps games are built on.
MDPI - Serious games systematic review
People in active learning environments consistently outperform those taught via traditional lecture formats - not just in retention, but in application and decision-making under pressure.
PubMed - Active learning meta-analysis
BehaviourOps games are built around the conditions the research demands. Decisions under pressure - not passive watching. Feedback and consequence - not compliance checkboxes. Capability, opportunity and motivation - not another slide deck. The science has been clear for years. We just built the thing that acts on it.
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