Engaging Remote Employees: The Moderating Role of "Remote" Status in Determining Employee Information Security Policy Awareness

Using social cognitive theory as a framework, this study proposes and tests a behavioral model to predict how "remote" status impacts the manner in which social learning cues influence employee awareness of information security policies and ultimately differentiates him or her from in-house employees in terms of information security policy awareness. Based on data acquired from an online sample of 435 fulltime employees across numerous industries and structural equation modeling analysis, the findings suggest that, compared to their in-house counterparts, remote employees experience lower levels of vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and situational support, thereby resulting in diminished levels of information security policy awareness. These findings have strong implications for managers of remote employees and for organizations seeking to reduce the risk associated with an ever-increasing remote workforce. The findings also advance social cognitive theory by incorporating information security policy awareness as an important outcome formed from perceptions of social learning cues external to the individual, but present within the organization.