Quality and Fairness of an Information Security Policy As Antecedents of Employees´ Security Engagement in the Workplace: An Empirical Investigation

This paper investigates the impact of the characteristics of information security policy (ISP) on an employee´s security compliance in the workplace. Two factors were proposed as the antecedents of employees´ security compliance: ISP Fairness and ISP Quality. ISP Quality is comprised of three quality dimensions--Clarity, Completeness, and Consistency. It is shown that ISP fairness has a strong positive effect on an employee´s ISP Compliance. In addition, it is found that ISP quality does not only have a strong positive influence on an employee´s ISP compliance but also have a strong influence on an employee´s perceived ISP fairness. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting the importance of ISP characteristics; namely, ISP quality and ISP fairness as an organizational resource to enhance an organization´s information security.