Seppo Pahnila

Consumer acceptance of online banking: an extension of the technology acceptance model

Advances in electronic banking technology have created novel ways of handling daily banking affairs, especially via the online banking channel. The acceptance of online banking services has been rapid in many parts of the world, and in the leading e‐banking countries the number of e‐banking contracts has exceeded 50 percent. Investigates online banking acceptance in the light of the traditional technology acceptance model (TAM), which is leveraged into the online environment. On the basis of a focus group interview with banking professionals, TAM literature and e‐banking studies, we develop a model indicating online‐banking acceptance among private banking customers in Finland. The model was tested with a survey sample (n=268). The findings of the study indicate that perceived usefulness and information on online banking on the Web site were the main factors influencing online‐banking acceptance.

What levels of moral reasoning and values explain adherence to information security rules? An empirical study

It is widely agreed that employee non-adherence to information security policies poses a major problem for organizations. Previous research has pointed to the potential of theories of moral reasoning to better understand this problem. However, we find no empirical studies that examine the influence of moral reasoning on compliance with information security policies. We address this research gap by proposing a theoretical model that explains non-compliance in terms of moral reasoning and values. The model integrates two well-known psychological theories: the Theory of Cognitive Moral Development by Kohlberg and the Theory of Motivational Types of Values by Schwartz. Our empirical findings largely support the proposed model and suggest implications for practice and research on how to improve information security policy compliance.

Employees’ Adherence to Information Security Policies: An Empirical Study

It is widely agreed that a key threat to information security is caused by careless employees who do not adhere to the information security policies of their organizations. In order to ensure that employees comply with the organization’s information security procedures, a number of information security policy compliance measures have been proposed in the past. Prior research has, however, criticized these measures as lacking theoretically and empirically grounded principles. To fill this gap in research, the present study advances a novel model that explains employees’ adherence to information security policies. This model modifies and combines the Protection Motivation Theory, the General Deterrence Theory, the Theory of Reasoned Action, the Innovation Diffusion Theory and Rewards. In order to empirically validate this model, we collected data (N=917) from four different companies. The findings show that direct paths from threat appraisal, self-efficacy, normative beliefs, and visibility to the intention to comply with IS security policies were significant. Response efficacy, on the other hand, did not have a significant effect on the intention to comply with IS security policies. Sanctions have a significant effect on actual compliance with IS security policies, whereas rewards did not have a significant effect on actual compliance with the IS security policies. Finally, the intention to comply with IS security policies has a significant effect on actual compliance with the IS security policies.

Finding Kairos in Quitting Smoking: Smokers' Perceptions of Warning Pictures

This paper studies Kairos, i.e. the opportune moment to persuade, through a smoking cessation experiment. We approached 101 people, comprising of 81 smokers and 20 non-smokers, on the streets of Palo Alto, California. The participants were shown five warning pictures related to the dangers of smoking as well as a control picture. The people rated each picture based upon how strongly they felt they were affected by the pictures. The results indicate that the opportune moment to show these pictures is not when the people already are smoking but rather much earlier. Quite interestingly, the affect of this intervention was stronger on women than men. The fact that the opportune moment seems to vary between individuals complicates the design of applications leveraging Kairos to a great extent.

Implementation Intentions Explain How a Behavior Becomes Habitual: The Use of Online Newspapers

The use of information technology (IT) has received much attention in the information systems (IS) literature. The large number of studies on IT adoption and technology acceptance has focused on intentional behavior, applying theories such as the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). In recent years, technology acceptance models have been extended to cover habitual behavior. To our understanding, the current IS research on habits, despite its other merits, does not explain how a behavior becomes a habitual behavior. To this end, it is suggested in the psychological literature that the Theory of Implementation Intention explains this. That is, the psychological literature suggests that implementation intention leads to habitual behavior. In this study, we explored whether this applies to the use of online newspapers. Empirical results (N = 57) obtained through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) suggest that implementation intention has a significant impact on self-report habits. Hence, our results show that intention leads to habit. This is a new contribution in IS, given that previous research in IS does not explain how behavior becomes habitual. Furthermore, our results show that prior behavior has a strongly significant effect on self-report habits and an insignificant effect on actual behavior (reading online newspapers). In addition, self-report habits were found to have a strong and significant effect on actual behavior.