Understanding students’ compliance behaviour with the information security measures within a South African university.
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Date
2022
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Abstract
Today’s organisations are continuously and increasingly being exposed to security
breaches. Higher education institutions have also been affected by the increasing
occurrences of security breaches. Higher education institutions’ exposure to security
breaches have been attributed to factors such as human error and lack of information
security compliance among students. Studies have shown that students do not comply
with information security policies. Hence, students, like most humans, remain the
weakest link in the exposure of information and information systems to cyberattacks.
In this study, the protection motivation theory was used as the guiding theoretical
framework to understand students’ compliance behaviour with information security
measures. This study employed an exploratory research design supported by a
quantitative research approach to investigate the factors influencing students’ compliance
with information security measures. The data was collected using a questionnaire and was
analysed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS). From a stratified sample
of 376 participants, the findings indicate that Perceived Severity and Perceived Rewards
have the most significant effect on student compliance with information security
measures. This study further makes suggestions that may help improve compliance with
information security controls within higher education institutions, such as replacing the
student card system with biometric fingerprint scanners which are a more convenient
method to access the university.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.