Improving Informational Privacy and Security Governance via Organizational Climate

PIs: Prof. Gil Luria, Dr. Irit Hadar. 

Research Students: Ms. Or Atias, Ms. Renana Arison. 

Abstract:

Today, information technology (IT) developers are called upon to develop measures inherent in the technologies to protect informational privacy and security, by applying holistic approaches such as privacy and security by design, addressing privacy and security concerns as the default mode of operation of a business or organization.

A previous study, in the context of privacy by design, identified organizational climate as a central force representing the influence of the environment on IT developers’ understanding and decision making regarding privacy concerns, often leading them to disregard privacy-related regulations, including the organization’s own policies.

Given the identified influence of organizational climate on IT developers, and in light of vast organizational literature indicating the high influence of organizational climate on employee behavior, and specifically on compliance with policy this research aims to leverage organizational climate for improved privacy and security governance.

The derived research objectives are: (1) to develop measures for informational privacy and security organizational climates, (2) to develop interventions for improving the level of privacy and security organizational climates, and evaluating their effect via the aforementioned measures.