Common Features in Local Employees’ Behavior concerning Information Security Management in Foreign Companies

Abstract

Purpose – This paper examines common features in local employees’ behavior leading to problems in information security in foreign companies due to cultural differences between foreign managers and local workers.

Design/methodology/approach – The investee countries of Russia, India, China, Brazil, Thailand, Venezuela, Malaysia and the East African Community are examined. Potential human-related problems developed using Hofstede’s framework of culture and the results of previously conducted studies are examined and their linkage to cultural dimensions are validated using human behavioral heuristics.

Findings – The problems of “Unintentional sharing of confidential information” and “Concealing faults made by friends” occur because of lower individualism of investee countries, while the problem of “Using any means to reach goals owing to high competition” occurs because of higher masculinity of the society.

Originality/value – This paper has identified that human-related information security problems are linked to the investee countries’ cultural dimensions through the behavioral patterns influenced by their cultures.