Service security breaches: the impact of comparative optimism

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this research is to examine the joint effects of error management, error locality, and individuals’ comparative optimism on consumers’ attitudes and intentions to spread negative word-of-mouth. To explore consumers’ reactions, a 2 (Error management: Yes vs. No) x 2 (Error locality: Focal vs. Competitor) x 2 (Comparative optimism: High vs. Low) experiment was employed. Results indicated that when the focal hotel is breached, individuals who are high on comparative optimism exhibit more positive attitudes and a lower level of intentions to spread negative word-of-mouth when error management is presented (vs. no error management). When a competitor is breached, people show similar levels of attitudes and behavioral intentions regardless of the conditions of error management. Findings of this research contribute to strategic planning and policymaking regarding information security.

摘要

本文主旨是研究错误管理，犯错主体，以及个人乐观偏差对消费者态度及负面口碑的共同影响。本研究采用了实验法来探索消费者在公司数据泄露之后的反应及行为。我们操作及测量了三个变量：公司是否采用错误管理（是或者否），犯错主体（错误发生在消费者消费过的企业，简称主企业，或是竞争对手），以及乐观偏差（高或者低）。结果显示，当主企业发生数据泄露并采用了错误管理时（对比当这个公司未进行错误管理时），较乐观的消费者表现出更加积极的态度且传播负面口碑的可能性较低。相反，当竞争对手发生数据泄露时，主企业是否进行错误管理对消费者没有显著影响；消费者展现出的态度及行为具有很高的相似性。本研究结果对公司数据方面的战略管理及政策制定有显著的贡献。

KEYWORDS:

• Data breach
• error management
• error locality
• negative word-of-mouth
• and comparative optimism

关键词:

• 数据泄露
• 错误管理
• 犯错主体
• 负面口碑
• 乐观偏差

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.