Beyond Deterrence: A Systematic Review of the Role of Autonomous Motivation in Organizational Security Behavior Studies

Xiaowei Chen; Lorin Schöni; Verena Distler; Verena Zimmermann

doi:10.1145/3706598.3713122

Beyond Deterrence: A Systematic Review of the Role of Autonomous Motivation in Organizational Security Behavior Studies

Xiaowei Chen, Lorin Schöni, Verena Distler, Verena Zimmermann

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

57 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

What drives employees to ensure security when handling information assets in organizations? There is growing interest from the security behavior community in how autonomous motivators shape employees’ security-related behaviors. To reconcile the scattered viewpoints on autonomous motivation and synthesize findings from studies utilizing various theoretical frameworks, we systematically reviewed relevant publications. We present a preregistered literature review that investigated (a) what forms of autonomous motivation have been examined in organizational security contexts, (b) which behaviors/behavioral intentions are related to autonomous motivators, and (c) how autonomous motivation affects employees’ security behaviors. Based on an initial set of 432 papers, filtered down to 45 studies, we identified 17 unique autonomous motivators and three types of related security behaviors. This review not only develops a refined taxonomy of autonomous motivation related to security behaviors but also charts a path forward for future research on autonomous motivation in human-centered security.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Publisher	ACM
Pages	1-28
Number of pages	28
ISBN (Electronic)	979-8-4007-1394-1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713122
Publication status	Published - 26 Apr 2025
MoE publication type	A4 Conference publication
Event	ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - PACIFICO Yokohama, Yokohama, Japan Duration: 26 Apr 2025 → 1 May 2025 https://chi2025.acm.org/

Conference

Conference	ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Abbreviated title	ACM CHI
Country/Territory	Japan
City	Yokohama
Period	26/04/2025 → 01/05/2025
Internet address	https://chi2025.acm.org/

Keywords

Autonomous motivation
Expectancy-Value Theory
Human-centered security
Information security behavior
Intrinsic motivation
Motivation theory
Self-Determination Theory
Systematic review

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10.1145/3706598.3713122Licence: CC BY-NC

Beyond_Deterrence_-_A_Systematic_Review_of_the_Role_of_Autonomous_Motivation_in_Organizational_Security_Behavior_StudiesFinal published version, 2.39 MBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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title = "Beyond Deterrence: A Systematic Review of the Role of Autonomous Motivation in Organizational Security Behavior Studies",

abstract = "What drives employees to ensure security when handling information assets in organizations? There is growing interest from the security behavior community in how autonomous motivators shape employees{\textquoteright} security-related behaviors. To reconcile the scattered viewpoints on autonomous motivation and synthesize findings from studies utilizing various theoretical frameworks, we systematically reviewed relevant publications. We present a preregistered literature review that investigated (a) what forms of autonomous motivation have been examined in organizational security contexts, (b) which behaviors/behavioral intentions are related to autonomous motivators, and (c) how autonomous motivation affects employees{\textquoteright} security behaviors. Based on an initial set of 432 papers, filtered down to 45 studies, we identified 17 unique autonomous motivators and three types of related security behaviors. This review not only develops a refined taxonomy of autonomous motivation related to security behaviors but also charts a path forward for future research on autonomous motivation in human-centered security.",

keywords = "Autonomous motivation, Expectancy-Value Theory, Human-centered security, Information security behavior, Intrinsic motivation, Motivation theory, Self-Determination Theory, Systematic review",

author = "Xiaowei Chen and Lorin Sch{\"o}ni and Verena Distler and Verena Zimmermann",

year = "2025",

month = apr,

day = "26",

doi = "10.1145/3706598.3713122",

language = "English",

pages = "1--28",

booktitle = "CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",

publisher = "ACM",

address = "United States",

note = "ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM CHI ; Conference date: 26-04-2025 Through 01-05-2025",

url = "https://chi2025.acm.org/",

}

Chen, X, Schöni, L, Distler, V & Zimmermann, V 2025, Beyond Deterrence: A Systematic Review of the Role of Autonomous Motivation in Organizational Security Behavior Studies. in CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems., 919, ACM, pp. 1-28, ACM SIGCHI Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Yokohama, Japan, 26/04/2025. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713122

Beyond Deterrence: A Systematic Review of the Role of Autonomous Motivation in Organizational Security Behavior Studies. / Chen, Xiaowei; Schöni, Lorin; Distler, Verena et al.
CHI '25: Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, 2025. p. 1-28 919.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

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Beyond Deterrence: A Systematic Review of the Role of Autonomous Motivation in Organizational Security Behavior Studies

Abstract

Conference

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CHI Honorable Mention Award

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Beyond Deterrence: A Systematic Review of the Role of Autonomous Motivation in Organizational Security Behavior Studies

Abstract

Conference

Keywords

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Fingerprint

Prizes

CHI Honorable Mention Award

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