Circuits of Power: A Study of Mandated Compliance to an Information Systems Security "De Jure" Standard in a Government Organization
Authors: Smith, Stephen; Winchester, Donald; Bunker, Deborah; Jamieson, Rodger
Journal: MIS Quarterly (2010)
DOI: 10.2307/25750687
Organizations need to protect information assets against cyber crime, denial-of-service attacks, web hackers, data breaches, identity and credit card theft, and fraud. Criminals often try to achieve financial, political, or personal gain through these attacks, so the threats that their actions prompt are insidious motivators for organizations to adopt information systems security (ISS) approaches. Extant ISS research has traditionally examined ISS in e-commerce business organizations. The present study investigates ISS within government, analyzing power relationships during an ISS standards adoption and accreditation process, where a head of state mandates that all government agencies are to comply with a national de jure ISS standard. Using a canonical action research method, designated managers of ISS services across small, medium, and large agencies were monitored and assessed for progress to accreditation through surveys, interviews, participant observation at round table forums, and focus groups. By 2008, accreditation status across the 89 agencies participating in this study was approximately 33 percent fully accredited, with 67 percent partially compliant. The research uses…