Moderating Effect Of Entrepreneurial Orientation On The Relationship Between Human-Related Information Security Issues And Firm Performance In Kenya

Abstract

By having an effective organizational information security culture where employees intuitively protect corporate information assets, SMEs could improve information security. Research has also identified information security awareness and training as important parts of information security and stated that increasing awareness of security issues is the most cost effective control that a firm can implement. SMEs have the capacity to achieve rapid economic growth. In Kenya they employ about 85 percent of the Kenyan workforce. The need to link human-related information security issues with performance has become vital for firms striving to achieve superior performance. However, there have been no rich literature linking the two. Also SMEs have a weak understanding of information security, security technologies and control measures. To better understand this relationship, this paper was guided by a cross-sectional research design. Using the hierarchical and moderated multiple regression (MMR) analyses, the theoretical models and hypotheses in this paper were tested based on empirical data gathered from 94 SMEs that participated in the 2013 Top 100 Survey. The results revealed that entrepreneurial orientation significantly moderated the relationship between human-related information security issues and firm performance in Kenya. This study will enhance the skill set in Kenyan SMEs, producing a more sustainable solution, as well as contributing to the open literature.