The impact of leadership on employees' intended information security behaviour: An examination of the full-range leadership theory

Explaining the influence of management leadership on employees' information security behaviour is an important focus in information systems research and for companies and organizations. Unfortunately, the role of leadership has remained largely unexplored in the information security context. Our study addresses this gap in literature: how the dimensions of full-range leadership influence employees' intended information security behaviour. Consequently, our study takes an interactional psychology perspective and links the dimensions of the full-range model of leadership to employees' security compliance intention and security participation intention. We tested our multitheoretical model using Smart PLS 3.2.7 on a proprietary data set of 322 professionals in more than 14 branches throughout different regions worldwide. Our study contributes to the literature on information security, management, and leadership by exploring how and why different leadership styles enhance employees' intended information security behaviour. Our empirical findings emphasize the importance of transformational leaders because they are capable of directly influencing employees on the extra-role and in-role behaviour levels. Our results indicate new directions for information security and leadership research and implications for leadership practices.