Can a Pat on the Back Work?, The Effects of Oral and Written Rewards on IT Security

Abstract

Effective activities and methods to stimulate a person’s intrinsic motivation to follow rules have been studied and developed in many contexts. Yet, there is a lack of empirical evidence to determine the best methods to stimulate employee intrinsic motivation to follow security related rules in Information Technology (IT) contexts. Employee conformance to Information Technology Security Governance (ITSG) is one of the toughest challenges for organizations today. Reports such as IBM (2014) indicate that after a security breach a company will lose about $145 per record that was breached. Target’s breach in 2013 totaled to $191 million in costs related to their breach (2015) and Home Depot estimated its 2014 breach costs at $62 million. This does not include the loss of reputation the company will also need to recover. This study attempts to develop guidelines for actions that management can take to encourage intrinsic motivation to comply with ITSG principles, which will work to prevent security breaches.