Abstract

The protection of proprietary information that users print from their information systems is a significant concern. Researchers have repeatedly indicated that human behaviors and perception are important factors influencing the information security of organizations and have called for more research. In this study, we focused on the investigation of user reading preference, user perceived risk, and seven demographics in the context of compromising printed proprietary information. A Reading Preference and Risk (RPR) taxonomy was developed to classify users respective to potential risks to printed proprietary information. Results of a Webbased survey show that employees were dispersed across the RPR Taxonomy with 15.1% identified as potentially problematic. Our results also showed an overall reading preference for print materials and a high-perceived risk for compromising printed proprietary information. Significant differences between the constructs and demographics suggest that a user’s likelihood to compromise printed proprietary information is affected by frequency of user exposure, confidentiality level, and previous user experience with the compromise of proprietary information. Additionally, age, gender, and a user’s desire to retain e-training content in memory had a significant effect on user reading preference.

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