Ioannis Koskosas

Goal Setting and Trust in a Security Management Context

ABSTRACT Information security can be viewed as the efficient control of uncertainty arising from malicious acts intended to exploit valuable assets and in the context of information systems the valuable assets under consideration are data. A large part of information security approaches is technical in nature with less consideration on people and organizational issues. The research presented in this paper adopts a broader perspective and presents an understanding of information security in terms of a socio-organizational perspective. In doing so, it uses the goal-setting approach to identify any possible weaknesses in security management procedures in relation to trust among the members of information technology groups in communicating efficiently security risk messages. Data for the research were collected through in-depth interviews within three case studies. Interview results suggest that goal setting and trust are interrelated in managing information security. The research contributes to interpretive information systems with the study of goal setting and trust in a security management context.

Volatility of stock returns: the case of the Belgian Stock Exchange

This investigation focuses on the volatility of stock returns in the Belgian Stock Exchange from the period of April 1991 to April 2008. Empirical results have shown that there is a mean and volatility spillover effect from the big European markets. There are also mean spillover effects from the markets of the USA and the UK to the market of Belgium. The formation of Euronext stock exchange in September 2000 has affected the conditional volatility. Ultimately, the structural analysis of volatility with the GJR-GARCH model have shown that current volatility is more influenced by past volatility rather than by the previous day shocks.

Project Commitment in the Context of Information Security

This research investigates the role of project commitment in the context of information systems security. In doing so, the research adopts a psychological point of view by exploring and discussing the concept of project commitment in setting information security goals. Information security can be viewed as the efficient control of uncertainty arising from malicious acts intended to exploit valuable assets, and in the context of information systems the valuable assets under consideration are data. Data were collected by using an interpretive approach through in-depth interviews and observation within a single case study in Greece. The contribution of this research to interpretive information-systems consists of the study of project commitment and goal theory in an information security-management context, and its grounding within an interpretive epistemology. Ultimately, this research promotes an interdisciplinary and interorganizational theory that fosters a dialogue transcending industry-specific contexts and explores different management practices that can improve security project commitment and management in its real life context.