Top Management Can Lower Resistance toward Information Security Compliance

Recent reports indicate that IS users’ resistance to use information systems security policies is the biggest barrier to an effective security strategy. Studies that examine IS users’ resistance to information systems security policies are scarce in the current literature. In this paper, we examine the process of how top management support influences IS users’ resistance to security policies. Specifically, we examine the influence of the top management support on organizational norms and behavioral control. We also confirm that the norms and behavioral control affect resistance to IS policy. We pilot-tested our proposed set of hypotheses with survey data collected from 133 IS users working in four industries. Results supported our proposed model. Based on the findings, implications for theory and practices are discussed