Factors of people-centric security climate: conceptual model and exploratory study in Vietnam

TL;DR

This study explores how social networks within organizations influence the development of a security climate that encourages proactive, security-aware behavior among employees, using a conceptual model and case study in Vietnam.

Contribution

It introduces a new conceptual model linking social networks to security climate formation and empirically validates it through a case study in Vietnam.

Findings

Validated and extended security climate dimensions

Identified key social networks influencing security climate

Demonstrated the model's applicability in Vietnam

Abstract

There is an increasing focus on the persuasive approach to develop a people-centric security climate where employees are aware of the priority of security and perform conscious security behaviour proactively. Employees can evaluate the priority of security as they observe and interact with the security features that constitute the security climate of the workplace. We examined the fundamental challenge that not every employee could recognise those features. In this multi-stage research, we adopted the theoretical lens of symbolic interactionism to advance a conceptual model which explains the relationship between organisation's social networks and the formation of information security climate. A descriptive case study in Vietnam was then conducted to refine the proposed model. The findings validated and extended the dimensions of information security climate, as well as identified the relevant organisation's social networks (i.e. information, affect, and power) that lead to its formation.