How Moral Intensity and Impulsivity Moderate the Influence of Accountability on Access Policy Violations in Information Systems

Seventh Workshop on Information Security and Privacy 2013 (WISP 2013) at the 2013 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2013), Milan, Italy, December 14

8 Pages Posted: 23 Nov 2014

See all articles by David Eargle

David Eargle

University of Pittsburgh - Management Information Systems

Anthony Vance

Brigham Young University - Department of Information Systems

Paul Benjamin Lowry

Virginia Tech - Pamplin College of Business

Date Written: December 14, 2013

Abstract

A persistent threat to the security of information systems is that of malicious insiders. These insiders, who by definition are trusted, are a major concern for organizations because of their ability to misuse access privileges, steal intellectual property, and commit fraud (Rubenstein 2008; Schmitt 2011). The recent high-profile cases of Private Manning and Edward Snowden have further raised organizations’ concerns of the insider threat (Savage 2013). Consequently, it is important to identify ways to reduce insiders’ abuse of information systems.

Previous research has shown the potential of perceived accountability within systems to reduce access policy violations, one common form of insider abuse (Vance et al. 2013). This research expands on this previous effort by showing how the constructs of moral intensity and impulsivity moderate the influence of accountability mechanisms on access policy violations. Our research question is,

RQ: How do moral intensity and impulsivity influence the effect of accountability on intentions to violate the access policy?

We conducted a field study that presented hypothetical scenarios and a simulated accountability user interface (UI) artifacts to professional users of an Oracle PeopleSoft human resource management system (HRMS) and financial management system (FMS). We anticipate that the analysis will show how the influence of impulsivity and moral intensity influence the effectiveness of these accountability UI artifacts in reducing access policy violations.

Suggested Citation

Eargle, David and Vance, Anthony and Lowry, Paul Benjamin, How Moral Intensity and Impulsivity Moderate the Influence of Accountability on Access Policy Violations in Information Systems (December 14, 2013). Seventh Workshop on Information Security and Privacy 2013 (WISP 2013) at the 2013 International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2013), Milan, Italy, December 14, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2529609

David Eargle

University of Pittsburgh - Management Information Systems ( email )

Pittsburgh, PA 15260
United States

Anthony Vance

Brigham Young University - Department of Information Systems ( email )

510 Tanner Building
Marriott School
Provo, UT 84602
United States

Paul Benjamin Lowry (Contact Author)

Virginia Tech - Pamplin College of Business ( email )

1016 Pamplin Hall
Blacksburg, VA 24061
United States

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