Samenvatting

From the thesis:
This thesis document is the result of research conducted by Peter Straver in culmination of the
Master of Informatics in the field of Information Management. The research is supervised by dr.
Bas van Gils.
Business information, held within information systems, is critical for most organizations. To
protect these critical information assets, security controls should be deployed which might come
as a hindrance for the end-users, on top of other demands in their work. The Information
Security Policies (ISP) give direction to their behaviors. Conditions can be shaped by
organizations likely to promote so-called motivational factors influencing the end-users
intentions to perform the desired behavior of compliance to the ISP in order to protect these
information assets.
In the research documented in this thesis document, the applicable motivational factors are
determined from literature, judged and refined by Subject Matter Experts. A survey is conducted
within five contexts, within five different sectors. From the statistical analysis, findings are
reported and conclusions on the hypothesis are drawn, which provide additional insights in this
field of research. Also recommendations and suggestions for future research are reported.
In total, six motivational factors are found, applicable to intentions on compliance. From the
research is learned, that the degree to which these factors relate differs per factor and per
context. Two of these factors were found to always relate in such degree to compliance
intentions that even without measuring the degree for a particular organization, applying these
factors can be very effective for any organization or context. The other four factors have shown
to be effective within particular context(s), meaning measurement of the context is needed,
before utilizing these factors within an organization.
To measure such context this thesis delivers an research instrument –ready to use in practice in
the appendixes of this document.
This thesis therefore contributes to both research and practice. For research, additional insights
on the motivational factors are reported in the thesis. It contributes to practice as well from
learning on how to conduct such research in practice and for each conclusion reported,
suggestions are listed on how to utilize a specific motivational factor in practice, within an
organizational context.