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Papers by Merrill Warkentin

Journal of Information Privacy and Security, 2006

Abstract Future inter-networking environments will involve extensive interaction between multiple... more Abstract Future inter-networking environments will involve extensive interaction between multiple servers, users and their agents. Currently, numerous forms of trusted network environments facilitate the use of agents. Corporate intranets, secure extranets, B2B partnerships, and collaborative e-marketplaces are just a few examples. Although these environments presume trust, they still provide considerable risk to privacy and liability exposure to all parties involved. Therefore, it will be imperative that intelligent agents act according to the desired intentions of the agents’ owners who develop and introduce them. The XML-based protocol presented in this paper provides a practical approach to the provision of such compliance. Agents, if embedded with these protocols, will demonstrate behavior consistent with the desired privacy posture of the owner along several key continua, while still maintaining an autonomous nature.

Journal of Educational Technology Systems, Aug 10, 2015

The current study examines the impact of new media, specifically the introduction of tablets, on ... more The current study examines the impact of new media, specifically the introduction of tablets, on student learning. Student groups were asked to build learning materials on either personal computers (PCs) or tablets. The study further investigated building this material in video and text forms. The results were analyzed using a repeatedmeasures analysis of variance. Tablet use lead to superior outcomes, but this result was conditional on critical thinking stage. For instance, tablet use resulted in better outcomes in the fourth (evaluation) stage of critical thinking. In the first three and fifth stages of critical thinking, tablets provided no significant advantage over PCs. From a learning strategies perspective, tablets lead to more employment of all three strategies investigated: elaboration, rehearsal, and organization. In terms of media type, video presentation was more effective in the first stage of critical thinking (problem identification), while text worked better in the fourth stage of the process (evaluation).

Information & Management, Jul 1, 2017

Online social networks (OSNs) offer a stream of information that readily provides comparison oppo... more Online social networks (OSNs) offer a stream of information that readily provides comparison opportunities, often resulting in feelings of envy. Two factors that drive OSN-situational envy (OSN-SE) are a user's personality and needs. Leveraging the five-factor model of personality and uses and gratifications theory, we explore how personality traits and OSN use affect OSN-SE. Data from 625 survey responses indicate that Facebook users experience greater OSN-SE when they exhibit neuroticism and use Facebook to gratify needs to gather information, seek attention, or pass time, suggesting that envyprone users should use OSN for specific purposes and avoid passive pursuits.

Information & Management, Nov 1, 2017

People using online social networks (OSNs) exchange information through posts of multimedia conte... more People using online social networks (OSNs) exchange information through posts of multimedia content, which may contain others' information. Our study contributes to the privacy literature by examining individuals' perceptions of the risk their OSN activity poses to others' information. We introduce the concept "perceived shared risk," which includes OSN users' perceived severity and susceptibility of exposing others' information. Results indicate culture, concerns regarding one's own information, and Facebook information disclosure self-efficacy influence both risk components. We also identify a correlation between perceived shared risk and the use of OSN privacy controls.

Journal of Business Research, Aug 1, 2021

Abstract Recent research in leading business journals has varied widely in how statistical outlie... more Abstract Recent research in leading business journals has varied widely in how statistical outliers are identified and handled; many techniques were reported. But most articles with empirical data have not mentioned outliers; many others simply referred to their removal without details. This wide variety of methods and frequent non-disclosure of methods cannot represent the best practice. Proper outlier identification and handling are important issues for any research community that performs quantitative research based on empirical data. We document this diversity of methods by examining articles published in the UTD-24 business journals during a 12-year period, and we explain why almost all methods described in these articles are ill-advised. To achieve an effective assessment of outliers, we propose a process of outlier identification based on testing hypotheses using a controlled significance level. The implementation of our suggested method is feasible using commonly available statistical analysis software.

Computers & Security, Jun 1, 2018

He has presented his work at several conferences, including AMCIS and HICSS. He has served as a r... more He has presented his work at several conferences, including AMCIS and HICSS. He has served as a reviewer for several IS journals and conferences.

Management Information Systems Quarterly, 2010

Natural Hazards, Feb 27, 2018

This study explores the influence of three factors on a person's decision to drive in winter weat... more This study explores the influence of three factors on a person's decision to drive in winter weather: destination, affected area, and caution level. Participants (n = 555) completed an online survey that included scenarios with text of a simulated radio message involving a character named Mike. After the scenario, participants answered Likert-scaled questions related to their intention to drive (what would you do) and their recommended behavior for others (what should Mike do). There was a significant effect of destination and caution level on the decision to drive. Participants were more likely to respond that they

Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2018

Facebook and other social network sites (SNSs) provide over one billion users with affordances no... more Facebook and other social network sites (SNSs) provide over one billion users with affordances not realized in traditional interpersonal interactions. With a single online post (a comment, a picture, a "like," a tag, a status update, etc.), SNS users across the planet can instantly share personal information with their entire network of friends. Some of these posts stimulate feelings of envy on the part of the reader, though the envious feelings (and the reactions to envy) may be different than those felt by individuals who learn of enviable news through traditional ("real world") interactions. Under certain conditions, envious feelings experienced while visiting a SNS have been shown to be linked to depression and a lower sense of wellbeing. Our research reviews relevant literature on envy and social media affordances and builds a theory which relates the impact of SNS affordances to envious feelings. We present propositions to guide future research efforts that may seek to investigate the direct causes, moderators, and dispositional and situational factors that lead to feelings of SNS envy and its outcomes 1 .

Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Mar 1, 2016

Information security management programs have long included "fear appeals", managerial communiqué... more Information security management programs have long included "fear appeals", managerial communiqués designed to promote secure behaviors among organizational insiders. However, recent research has found a conflict between the predictions of contemporary fear appeal theory for how we expect individuals to experience fear appeals and what actually occurs in IS security situations. Using the opportunity presented by neuroimaging tools to examine cognitive and affective reactions to fear appeals, we take a comparative look at the contentions of fear appeal theory and the realities of what insiders experience neurologically when exposed to ecologically relevant IS security fear appeals. Our fMRI results suggest that fear appeals elicit threat and threat response assessments, which partially supports fear appeal theory but does not support the presence of an actual fear response. Furthermore, appraisals of recommended threat responses had a stronger impact on intentions to enact security behaviors than appraisals of the threat itself, which suggests that a focus on threats might be misplaced. Instead, focusing on ways to make the responses to the threats more appealing to users might work better. These controversial findings suggest future research that should explore how fear appeals play out in IS security and in what ways.

evaluated the quantitative aspects and overall quality of the work. Drs. Steven Taylor and Tim Ba... more evaluated the quantitative aspects and overall quality of the work. Drs. Steven Taylor and Tim Barnett assisted me throughout the process, lending their valuable expertise in research design. My deepest appreciation and admiration goes to Dr. Merrill Warkentin, the chair of the dissertation committee, my academic mentor, and close friend. My decision to enter the doctoral program in 2003 is directly correlated with his arrival at Mississippi State University, as it was his teachings and works in the field that first drew my interest to the academic arena. Through his leadership and guidance, I have been provided with the resources necessary to successfully complete this program. I will forever be grateful to him. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Michelle, and my two little girls, Rae and Abby, whose love, support and understanding through this journey has been remarkable. Also, I owe a great deal to our parents, Richard and Sue Johnston and Paul and Freida Buckley, who extended the helping hands that turned this dream into a reality.

Journal of Computer Information Systems, Dec 11, 2015

This article examines the impact of negative message framing on security technology adoption. Bas... more This article examines the impact of negative message framing on security technology adoption. Based on previous studies, it was hypothesized that negatively-framed messages would have a greater effect on the adoption of security technologies which detect system abuse than on technologies for prevention. To test this hypothesis, two security technologies were selected: one to represent preventative technologies and one to represent detective technologies. Undergraduate business students at a major southeastern university were first introduced to both security technologies, then exposed to negatively-framed messages and asked to complete a survey regarding their attitudes and intentions toward adopting each. In line with previous studies, it was determined that negatively-framed messages are better suited for detection technologies than for prevention technologies, and that IS managers should become more sensitive to the manner in which new security technologies are introduced and to the factors that help shape adoption intentions.

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

The concepts of privacy and security are interrelated but the underlying meanings behind them may... more The concepts of privacy and security are interrelated but the underlying meanings behind them may vary across different contexts. As information technology is becoming integrated in our lives, emerging information privacy and security issues have been catching both scholars’ and practitioners’ attention with the aim to address these issues. Examples of such issues include users’ role in information security breaches, online information disclosure and its impact on information privacy, and the collection and use of electronic data for surveillance. These issues are associated with and can be explained by various disciplines, such as psychology, law, business, economics, and information systems. This diversity of disciplines leads to an inclusive approach that subsumes interrelated constructs, such as security, anonymity, and surveillance, as a part of privacy in the current literature. However, privacy and security are distinct concepts. In this paper, we argue that to better underst...

Insider threats remain one of the biggest concerns for organizations. Applying persuasive message... more Insider threats remain one of the biggest concerns for organizations. Applying persuasive messages to motivate employees to engage in compliance behaviors is a common approach. A fear appeal is a persuasive message that arouses an individual’s fear of a potential threat in order to produce a recommended behavior. However, the effectiveness of fear-based messages is still inconclusive and unsatisfactory. Speech Act Theory asserts the processes that are considered to influence the effectiveness of a persuasive message. These processes, have not yet been employed and tested in information security research. Hence, we propose an investigation of the influence of speech acts on persuasive communication of information security. We will collect data from organizational employees in the USA and in China, employing the scenario-based factorial survey method (FSM) to present respondents with various situations regarding IS violations. Speech act variations will be manipulated to explore the impact of this factor on the effectiveness of fear appeals to improve cybersecurity behaviors

Employees continue to be the weak link in organizational security management and efforts to impro... more Employees continue to be the weak link in organizational security management and efforts to improve the security of employee behaviors have not been as effective as hoped. Researchers contend that security-related decision making is primarily based on risk perception. There is also a belief that, if changed, this could improve security-related compliance. The extant research has primarily focused on applying theories that assume rational decision making e.g. protection motivation and deterrence theories. This work presumes we can influence employees towards compliance with information security policies and by means of fear appeals and threatened sanctions. However, it is now becoming clear that security-related decision making is complex and nuanced, not a simple carrotand stickrelated situation. Dispositional and situational factors interact and interplay to influence security decisions. In this paper, we present a model that positions psychological disposition of individuals in te...

The ongoing demand for new and faster technologies continues to leave consumers and business user... more The ongoing demand for new and faster technologies continues to leave consumers and business users to face the constant challenge of updating systems and software. This unrelenting pace of technological evolution has not always been matched with a commensurate focus on security and privacy matters. In particular, the obligatory move to embrace cloud and IoT that frequently result in the collection and analysis of large data lakes has raised challenges for sovereign data protection and privacy legislationwhere data at rest can change overnightwith © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2021 Published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 M. Goedicke et al. (Eds.): Advancing Research in Information and Communication Technology, IFIP AICT 600, pp. 383–401, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81701-5_16 384 S. Furnell et al. mergers and acquisitions of service providers. This chapter examines the role of IFIP Technical Committee 11 (and its 14 underlyingWorkingG...

Decision Sciences, 2018

ABSTRACTEmployee disinterest in information security remains one of the greatest impediments to e... more ABSTRACTEmployee disinterest in information security remains one of the greatest impediments to effective information security management programs. How can organizations enhance the persuasiveness of the information security messages used to warn employees of threats and encourage employees to take specific actions to improve their security? We use fear appeal theory and the elaboration likelihood model to argue that security messages presented using more personally relevant language are more likely to induce employees to engage in the recommended protective security behaviors. Our strategy uses organization identification theory to segment employees into two groups and then develops security messages that use language aligned with each of the two segments. We tested this strategy within a large U.S. organization, and found that employees were more likely to consider and act upon messages that used language aligned with their organizational identification than messages using languag...

Information & Management, 2019

Persuasion is key to encourage compliance with information security policies through fear appeals... more Persuasion is key to encourage compliance with information security policies through fear appeals, though research has not examined how the perceived quality of their arguments affects threat and coping appraisals. Because we know that perceived argument quality can influence attitudes and behavior, it may improve fear appeal effectiveness. The results of a scenario-based field experiment suggest that perceived argument quality increases response efficacy perceptions and compliance intentions. We also examine emerging heuristics about how to use realism checks in scenario-based research and find that current realism check heuristics in behavioral information security research may be misguided, contributing to biased interpretation.

Journal of Information Privacy and Security, 2006

Journal of Educational Technology Systems, Aug 10, 2015

Information & Management, Jul 1, 2017

Information & Management, Nov 1, 2017

Journal of Business Research, Aug 1, 2021

Computers & Security, Jun 1, 2018

Management Information Systems Quarterly, 2010

Natural Hazards, Feb 27, 2018

Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2018

Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Mar 1, 2016

Journal of Computer Information Systems, Dec 11, 2015

Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

Decision Sciences, 2018

Information & Management, 2019

The virtual …, 1998

Google, Inc. (search). ...

Increased deregulation and globalization have encouraged organizations to expand the cultural div... more Increased deregulation and globalization have encouraged organizations to expand the cultural diversity of their employees. Integrating each employee into an organization’s culture, including practices regarding the protection of information, is critical. Because active employee participation is important for security, managers may need to evaluate individual cultural values to motivate employees to perform secure behaviors. This study analyzes these potential differences by examining two individual characteristics—collectivism and psychological ownership of information—within the context of information-security-related behaviors. The results of this study indicate that an individual’s personal orientation towards collectivism has an impact on psychological ownership and the intention not to perform secure behaviors. Furthermore, psychological ownership was shown to have a significant impact on the protection motivation constructs as well as on intention. The findings of this study contribute to information security research by studying collectivism’s effect on psychological ownership and psychological ownership’s impact on protection motivation.

Online social networks (OSNs) continue to have a transformative influence on how people socialize... more Online social networks (OSNs) continue to have a transformative influence on how people socialize, partially because they help facilitate social contact that is crucial to fulfilling an innate need to belong. However, there is increasing evidence that some users suffer from OSN addiction, expressed as OSN obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Using the need-to-belong theory as our foundation, we seek a deeper understanding of the relationship between OSN belongingness and OSN OCD by examining the effects OSN-specific uses and gratifications (U&Gs) and negative emotions have on it. We find that OSN belongingness is positively associated with use of the OSN to gratify needs for purposive value, self-discovery, maintaining interpersonal interconnectivity, social enhancement, and entertainment value. However, gratification of only the purposive value and social enhancement needs increase the likelihood of OSN OCD. Furthermore, we find that while OSN belongingness decreases the likelihood of OSN envy and anxiety, it slightly increases the likelihood of OSN fear of missing out; notably, all three of these negative emotions drive OSN OCD. Our findings indicate healthy socialization use by well-adjusted individuals decreases OSN OCD risks, but those experiencing unstable emotional responses or unhealthy socialization on the OSN should avoid use.

The increasing social reliance on computer-mediated communication has resulted in the rise of dec... more The increasing social reliance on computer-mediated communication has resulted in the rise of deceptive communication. Gender is a salient feature of identity that can be easily disguised online, and yet the phenomenon of gender deception has not been fully investigated. This study adopts a multifactorial analysis to examine motivation, self-efficacy and gender of a deceiver in relation to self-efficacy and gender of the detector as a contribution to understanding online gender deception. An asynchronous online game was developed to simulate scenarios in which males were incentivized to speak like females, and females were incentivized to speak like males. Using path analysis, we analyzed cognitive factors of gender deception, to support our hypotheses that an actor’s actual gender can affect the motivation to deceive; males had higher self-efficacy beliefs in gender deception, and females had a higher success rate in detecting such deception. Our research suggests that the gender of the message recipient could be a significant factor in uncovering gender deception.