The Impact of Challenge Information Security Stress on Information Security Policy Compliance: The Mediating Roles of Emotions

Figures & data

Figure 1 Research model.

Table 1 Descriptive Statistics of Samples (N = 217)

Variable	Classification	Frequency	Percent (%)	Cumulative Percent (%)
Gender	Male	129	59.4	59.4
	Female	88	40.6	100.0
Education	Bachelor’s degree or below	21	9.7	9.7
	Bachelor’s degree	156	71.9	81.6
	Master’s degree	35	16.1	97.7
	Doctorate degree	5	2.3	100.0
Position	Ordinary employees	46	21.2	21.2
	Grassroots-level management	111	51.2	72.4
	Middle management	54	24.9	97.2
	Senior management	6	2.8	100.0
Department	Security	42	19.4	19.4
	IT	119	54.8	74.2
	Business	44	20.3	94.5
	Other	12	5.5	100.0

Table 2 Survey Items of Variables

Variable	Item
Challenge information security stress (X)	1. The number of projects and/or assignments about information security that I accomplish.
	2. The amount of time I spend on information security work.
	3. The volume of information security work that must be accomplished in the allotted time.
	4. The amount of responsibility I have that is related to information security.
	5. Time pressure I experience about information security work.
	6. The scope of information security responsibility my position entails.
Positive emotions (M1)	1. Interested	5. Inspired
	2. Excited	6. Active
	3. Proud	7. Attentive
	4. Enthusiastic
Negative emotions (M2)	1. Hostile	5. Nervous
	2. Irritable	6. Upset
	3. Distressed	7. Jittery
	4. Scared	8. Afraid
ISP compliance (Y)	1. I comply with the organization’s ISP.
	2. I use the organization’s ISP to guide what I do on the job.
	3. I seek information about the organization’s ISP before acting.
	4. I follow the organization’s ISP about how I should use information systems-related resources.

Table 3 Descriptive Statistics, Correlation, Reliability, and Validity of Variables (N = 217)

Variable	Cronbach’s α	CR	Mean	S.D.	X	M1	M2	Y
X	0.775	0.840	4.322	1.061	(0.694)
M1	0.761	0.838	4.840	0.942	0.319**	(0.647)
M2	0.878	0.906	2.822	0.970	− 0.613**	− 0.146*	(0.721)
Y	0.833	0.897	5.198	1.156	0.398**	0.704**	− 0.181**	(0.802)

Notes: **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05. The italics and bold in diagonal brackets are the square root of AVE.

Table 4 Results of Regression Equation (N = 217)

DV	X			M1			M2
	Coefficient	SE	t	Coefficient	SE	t	Coefficient	SE	t
(1) Y	0.434	0.068	6.368***
(2) M1	0.283	0.057	4.937***
(3) M2	− 0.561	0.049	−11.382***
(4) Y	0.245	0.068	3.621***	0.785	0.061	12.892***	0.060	0.071	0.844
R^2=0.531, F=80.390, df1=3, df2=213, p=0.000

Notes: ***p < 0.001; df₁ is the degree of freedom of variable, df₂ is the degree of freedom of sample.

Table 5 Bootstrapping Analysis Results of Multiple Mediating Effects (N = 217)

	Indirect Effect		95% CI		Indirect Effects of Complete Standardization		95% CI of Complete Standardization
	Effect	SE	LL	UL	Effect	SE	LL	UL
X→M1→Y(a1*b1)	0.222	0.048	0.134	0.324	0.204	0.038	0.129	0.280
X→M2→Y(a2*b2)	− 0.034	0.044	− 0.124	0.050	− 0.031	0.041	− 0.116	0.045
Total (a1*b1 + a2*b2)	0.190	0.064	0.064	0.313	0.173	0.055	0.061	0.275
Compared (a1*b1 −a2*b2)	0.256	0.066	0.131	0.387	0.235	0.057	0.124	0.347

Figure 2 Results of the model.