The Causal Relationship between Information Security Countermeasures and Information System Misuse

【Intentional information systems (IS) misuse is a serious problem in many organizations. This study aims at developing the theoretical framework of deterring IS misuse on the basis of Nagin's General Deterrence Theory (GDT) which is very famous in the area of socio-criminology. Applying GDT to the IS misuse situation could be reasoned that the perceived certainty and the perceived severity of sanctions associated with committing IS misuse have positive impact on deterring the deviant behaviors. Also, these two constructs (certainty of sanctions and severity of sanctions) could be inferred to be influenced by the four types of IS security countermeasures (security policies, security awareness program, monitoring practices and preventive security software) derived through critically reviewing IS security-relevant literature. The proposed research model and ten hypotheses were empirically analysed using structural equation modelling with the data collected by conducting a questionnaire survey of staff members in business organizations in Korea. As a result, it was found that five ones of ten hypotheses were supported. It is thought that this study makes theoretical contribution to expanding research area of IS security and also has strong implications for IS security management practices within organizations.】