Kent Marett’s research while affiliated with Mississippi State University and other places

Purpose With the widespread use of online communications, users are extremely vulnerable to a myriad of deception attempts. This study aims to extend the literature on deception in computer-mediated communication by investigating whether the manner in which popularity information (PI) is presented and media richness affects users’ judgments. Design/methodology/approach This study developed a randomized, within and 2 × 3 between-subject experimental design. This study analyzed the main effects of PI and media richness on the imitation magnitude of veracity judges and the effect of the interaction between PI and media richness on the imitation magnitude of veracity judges. Findings The manner in which PI is presented to people affects their tendency to imitate others. Media richness also has a main effect; text-only messages resulted in greater imitation magnitude than those viewed in full audiovisual format. The findings showed an interaction effect between PI and media richness. Originality/value The findings of this study contribute to the information systems literature by introducing the notion of herd behavior to judgments of truthfulness and deception. Also, the medium over which PI was presented significantly impacted the magnitude of imitation tendency: PI delivered through text-only medium led to a greater extent of imitation than when delivered in full audiovisual format. This suggests that media richness alters the degree of imitating others’ decisions such that the leaner the medium, the greater the expected extent of imitation.

Virtual Lies and Digital Truths: A Review of Research on Deception in Online Communication reviews previous research that lies at the intersection of deception and computer-mediated communication and examines future directions that this research may be attuned to. As new varieties of online deception attract new researchers to the research effort, particularly within the field of management information systems, reviewing where the research stream originated and where it appears to be heading could be enlightening to those who hope to engage further with the topic. This monograph is organized as follows. Following discussion defining and contextualizing deception within the field of information systems research, the authors review some of the prominent theories that have helped inform studies on the topic. These include seminal theories developed in the fields of communication, IS theory and other relevant disciplines that have helped explain deceptive communication and its detection across computer-based modalities. Key findings and implications from across research disciplines are reviewed. Then, the incidence of deceptive communication across generations of media and technology platforms is discussed. Finally, the monograph concludes with an overview of potentially important research gaps and a call for interested researchers to continue investigating deception in computer-mediated communication.

For security, economic, and efficiency reasons, many businesses supply mobile devices to employees to use both in the workplace and remotely, accompanied by policies governing their appropriate use. Extant research has shown that work-issued mobile devices can disrupt employees’ perceptions of work-life balance (WLB) and, indeed, WLB can impact employees’ job satisfaction and performance. The global COVID-19 pandemic meant that more employees than usual performed their work remotely, but this situation may have not fit the preferred WLB for some. Did this encroachment mean that appropriate use policies were forgotten? We conducted two rounds of surveys, one pre-pandemic and the other mid-pandemic, to determine whether those workplace changes led some employees astray. In other words, which type of WLB perceptions are more likely to lead to policy violations and how does the WLB mismatch cause deviant behaviors before and during the pandemic? The results from cluster analysis and the comparison between the pre and mid-pandemic suggest that policy violators were present in both time periods, but before the pandemic violators were in more compartmentalized work settings and mid-pandemic violators dominated all work settings.

The prevalence of security threats like ransomware continues to increase and victimize a wide range of targets, which includes municipal information systems. These attacks are commonly reported in media outlets available in attacked communities. This study seeks to understand how effective news reporting can be toward influencing the behavior of people who live within the proximity of the attack. The results suggest a geographic influence on individual behaviors that could well extend beyond the context of information security into other areas of behavioral IS research.

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in North America do not always adequately address security. Based on responses from 232 SME owners and managers, the authors found that the adoption of security recommendations made by experts appear to be significantly influenced by the decisions of other local SMEs. A hot-spot analysis of information security practices suggested that local trends lead to prioritizing certain security practices and not adopting others. Follow-up interviews with business owners and Chamber of Commerce directors provided insights on how security hotspots developed or not. The study identified both hot spot and cold spot communities, and sought to assess how local business networking conduits like chambers of commerce help promote best security practices

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in North America do not always adequately address security. Based on responses from 232 SME owners and managers, the authors found that the adoption of security recommendations made by experts appear to be significantly influenced by the decisions of other local SMEs. A hot-spot analysis of information security practices suggested that local trends lead to prioritizing certain security practices and not adopting others. Follow-up interviews with business owners and Chamber of Commerce directors provided insights on how security hotspots developed or not. The study identified both hot spot and cold spot communities, and sought to assess how local business networking conduits like chambers of commerce help promote best security practices

Family firm leaders are often faced with conflicting pressures and goals. One such situation occurs when deciding whether to pursue professionalized management of a business function as opposed to retaining family control. In this study we examine the decision to professionalize the information security function of the firm while also seeking to maintain the family essence of the business. The results show that traditional institutional pressures encourage professionalism, but the move may be inhibited by family essence.

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in North America do not always adequately address security. Based on responses from 232 SME owners and managers, the authors found that the adoption of security recommendations made by experts appear to be significantly influenced by the decisions of other local SMEs. A hot-spot analysis of information security practices suggested that local trends lead to prioritizing certain security practices and not adopting others. Follow-up interviews with business owners and Chamber of Commerce directors provided insights on how security hotspots developed or not. The study identified both hot spot and cold spot communities, and sought to assess how local business networking conduits like chambers of commerce help promote best security practices