CCE Theses and Dissertations

Date of Award

2019

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

College of Computing and Engineering

Advisor

Gurvirender P. Tejay

Committee Member

Souren Paul

Committee Member

Steven R. Terrell

Keywords

behaviors, business administration, compliance, information technology, leadership, policy, security, social research

Abstract

This empirical study examined the behavioral influences of leaders on employees’ security compliance. Organizations can use leadership concepts in the field of Information Systems (IS) security. Despite the adoption of technical and managerial approaches, organizations still face issues motivating employee IS security compliance. This dissertation argued that organizations need strong leadership to encourage employees. Using the expectancy theory, this paper created a theoretical model to help understand the influence of task and relationship-oriented leadership behaviors on nontechnical controls IS security compliance. The conceptual underpinnings translated into perceived security effort, perceived security performance, and expected security outcomes. The theoretical model was validated using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The model-level results revealed a structural model that suggests task-oriented leadership is better suited for motivating IS security compliance. In addition, individual-level results provide additional support that task-oriented leadership was the only leadership behavior with a direct relationship with IS security compliance. These findings contribute to the body of knowledge that compliance behaviors are extrinsically motivated. Future research should aim to further examine the role of intrinsic motivators, and the indirect influence of relationship-oriented leadership behaviors on IS security policy compliance with more rigorous approaches.

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