Joyce Mui

Date of Award

Fall 12-1-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Management (DMgt)

Department

Engineering Management

Abstract

Many workers have changed their working status from in-person to remote, in the past several years, with a large increase in the number of employees working remotely during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. In parallel, the increasing costs of data breaches and number of security incidents continue to be a concern to organizations seeking to protect their organization, systems, and data. This study’s research questions were formed using a theoretical framework of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to discover influences on employee behavior and the Social Bonds Theory (SBT) to address strength of relationships and impact to compliance. This study investigated in-person and remote employees and their lived experiences with information security policies (ISP), seeking to gain understanding of employee lived experiences, relationships within organizations, and ISP compliance. This qualitative study used the phenomenology research method to interview study participants, that worked in-person and remotely, to gather data. Lived experiences of both in-person and remote study participants covered their experiences such as with their organization’s implementation and enforcement of ISP, organizational culture and leadership attitudes shaping ISP compliance, and clarity and training of ISP for employee audiences. Top factors that influenced employee compliance of ISPs of both in-person and remote study participants included the automation, hectic/busy times, efficiency, availability, training, and enforcement of the ISPs. Overall, study participants reported positive relationships within their organization, regardless of whether they were in-person or remote, however, nearly all study participants also iv noted that building relationships was easier to do in-person than remote, even as technology has bridged some of the gap between in-person and remote working relationships.

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