ABSTRACT

A major issue in the digital age is how to safeguard the security of the massive amount of data being stored, processed and transferred through digital channels. Organisational communication research into data security shows that people are the weakest link. Non-compliant behaviour can lead to security breaches. Existing studies have focused above all on how employees can be motivated to comply with data security procedures. However, focusing on desirable behaviour does not explain why people often ignore security regulations. In addition, existing research tends to focus primarily on self-reported attitudes and perceptions, which can give a distorted impression of people’s actual behaviour. In this paper, we address these issues by combining individual, habitual and situational factors to explain non-compliant behaviour in a vignette study, using SmartPLS to analyse survey data from 651 subjects in a large Dutch government organisation. The results indicate that bad habits play a significant role in non-compliant behaviour. This behaviour is fuelled by situational factors like time pressure, while a lack of self-efficacy also increases non-compliant behaviour. Based on these results, a communication strategy that addresses bad habits in a situational context may provide an alternative way to improve people’s compliant behaviour.

摘要

数字时代的一个主要问题是如何保障通过数字渠道存储、处理和传输的海量数据的安全性。对数据安全的组织传播研究表明，人是最薄弱的环节。不合规行为可能导致安全漏洞。现有研究首先集中在如何激励员工遵守数据安全程序。然而，关注理想行为并不能解释为什么人们经常忽视安全法规。此外，现有研究倾向于主要关注自我报告的态度和看法，这可能会给人们的实际行为带来扭曲的印象。在本文中，我们通过结合个人、习惯和情境因素来解决这些问题，以解释小插曲研究中的不合规行为，使用 SmartPLS 分析来自荷兰大型政府机构的 651 名受试者的调查数据。结果表明，不良习惯在不合规行为中起着重要作用。这种行为是由时间压力等情境因素推动的，而缺乏自我效能感也会增加不合规行为。基于这些结果，在情境背景下解决不良习惯的沟通策略可能会提供另一种方法来改善人们的顺从行为。