Where is the Security Blanket? Developing Social Media Marketing Capability as a Shield from Perceived Cybersecurity Risk

ABSTRACT

Although cybersecurity is important for any organization, firms have little understanding of the ramifications of perceived cybersecurity risk and how marketers can avert its negative marketing outcomes. The inability of firms to prevent massive data breaches in the recent past has heightened cybersecurity risk perceptions of customers and cybersecurity-related marketing challenges and opportunities. This study links cybersecurity risk with firm risk through firm reputation by developing a conceptual framework grounded in perceived risk theory in conjunction with dynamic capabilities and social network theoretical perspectives. Our findings show that social media marketing capabilities enable firms in mitigating the adverse impact of cybersecurity risk in declining firm reputation and value. Thus, this study provides significant implications for marketing theory and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Cybersecurity risk
• firm risk
• social media marketing capability
• reputation
• data breach

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank the reviewers and the editor for their valuable comments and suggestions which led to a significant improvement in the manuscript.