The Adaptive Roles of Positive and Negative Emotions in Organizational Insiders' Security-Based Precaution Taking

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Burns, A. J.; Roberts, Tom L.; Posey, Clay; Lowry, Paul Benjamin
• 署名单位: Baylor University; University of Texas System; University of Texas at Tyler; State University System of Florida; University of Central Florida; Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
• 刊物名称: INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7047
• DOI: 10.1287/isre.2019.0860
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 1228-1247
• 关键词: measurement model misspecification; information-systems security; evolutionary psychology; Intrinsic motivation; COGNITIVE APPRAISAL; job-satisfaction; self-efficacy; fear appeals; build theory; TECHNOLOGY

摘要

Protecting organizational information is a top priority for most firms. This reality, coupled with the fact that organizational insiders control much of their organizations' valuable information, has led both researchers and practitioners to acknowledge the importance of insiders' behavior for information security. Until recently, researchers have employed only a few theories to understand these influences, and this has generated calls for a broadened theoretical repertoire. Given this opportunity, we incorporate the previously developed framework of emotions and add the broaden-and-build theory (BBT) to understand the influence of discrete positive and negative emotions on insiders' precaution-taking activities. Our findings demonstrate that the relationship between both positive and negative emotions and precaution taking is mediated by insiders' (1) psychological capital (PsyCap), a higher-order, work-related construct of positive psychological resource capabilities; and (2) psychological distancing, a coping mechanism characterized by insiders' attempts to detach themselves psychologically from a situation. By considering these factors, our model explains 32% of the variance in insiders' precaution taking in organizations. Researchers and practitioners can use these findings to develop information-security programs that more effectively utilize emotional appeals to promote insiders' precaution taking.