Development of a Model of Individual, Contextual and Situational Factors to Predict Compliant Behavior.

Abstract

Because of society's ongoing digitalization it is becoming increasingly important to safeguard the enormous amount of information transferred through digital means. A large body of research shows that employees are the weakest link in information security. Until today, no model has yet tested a combination of individual, situational and contextual factors to motivate employees to comply with information security procedures. There have also been no examples of realistic scenario's in which respondents are forced to make a choice. This research presents realistic situations and employs a combination of individual, situational and contextual factors in order to explain compliant behavior. Short stories with different situational factors are presented to respondents. These different situational factors are expected to affect compliant behavior. A multiple linear regression analysis shows that only compliance intention is a significant situational predictor for compliant behavior, making intention an effective way to increase compliant behavior.