Abstract
This study examined the extent to which data labels influence policy adherence and low incidents
in public tertiary institutions in Rivers State, Nigeria. Grounded in the General Deterrence Theory
and the Protection Motivation Theory, the study adopted a quantitative cross-sectional survey
design. Data were obtained from 409 academic and non-teaching staff across five selected public
tertiary institutions using a structured, validated questionnaire. Hypotheses were tested using
simple regression analysis at a 0.05 level of significance. Descriptive statistics revealed grand
mean scores of 4.12 for data labels, 4.18 for policy adherence, and 4.10 for low incidents, all
exceeding the criterion mean of 3.0. Regression results showed that data labels significantly
influenced policy adherence (β = 0.713, t = 18.442, p < 0.05, R² = 0.508) and low incidents (β =
0.668, t = 16.937, p < 0.05, R² = 0.446). These findings suggest that structured and consistently
applied data labelling systems constitute a critical institutional mechanism for strengthening
security compliance and reducing information security incidents in public tertiary institutions. The
study recommends that institutional administrators formalise and enforce tiered data
classification frameworks aligned with regulatory standards, particularly the Nigeria Data
Protection Regulation.