A model on workarounds and information security integrity

Abstract

Background: Workarounds are creative human actions that bypass a known problem in a system or a policy. Workarounds serve as temporary ‘fixes’ when effective but will often compromise the integrity of information systems in the long term, mainly when they are ineffective.

Objectives: Forming part of behavioural studies in information systems security, the study aimed to investigate how workarounds influence the integrity of information security systems across businesses.

Method: A quantitative approach that followed the positivism paradigm was employed. A survey strategy was used, and data were collected using closed-ended questionnaires targeting employees working in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The survey elicited responses from 207 professional participants. Analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) v29 software.

Results: The study suggests that Individuality and Job characteristics are crucial predictors of workarounds, with the most notable findings pointing to a significant positive association between Workaround and Information security integrity. Crucially, highly individualistic employees are more likely to initiate workarounds, and in turn, this influences information security integrity.

Conclusion: The work shows that employees with highly individualistic personalities are more likely to initiate workarounds and should be trained and supervised to mitigate this attribute, as this might be detrimental to information security integrity.

Contribution: The study contributes theoretically by showing how workaround activities influence information security integrity. This study will assist enterprises in fortifying their information security measures.