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Item The critical success factors for Security Education, Training and Awareness (SETA) program effectiveness: a lifecycle model(Emerald, 2023-03-30) Alyami, Alyami; Sammon, David; Neville, Karen; Mahony, CarolannePurpose: This study explores the critical success factors (CSFs) for Security Education, Training and Awareness (SETA) program effectiveness. The questionable effectiveness of SETA programs at changing employee behavior and an absence of empirical studies on the CSFs for SETA program effectiveness is the key motivation for this study. Design/methodology/approach This exploratory study follows a systematic inductive approach to concept development. The methodology adopts the “key informant” approach to give voice to practitioners with SETA program expertise. Data are gathered using semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants from various geographic locations including the Gulf nations, Middle East, USA, UK and Ireland. Findings: In this study, the analysis of these key informant interviews, following an inductive open, axial and selective coding approach, produces 11 CSFs for SETA program effectiveness. These CSFs are mapped along the phases of a SETA program lifecycle (design, development, implementation and evaluation) and nine relationships identified between the CSFs (within and across the lifecycle phases) are highlighted. The CSFs and CSFs' relationships are visualized in a Lifecycle Model of CSFs for SETA program effectiveness. Originality/value: This research advances the first comprehensive conceptualization of the CSFs for SETA program effectiveness. The Lifecycle Model of CSFs for SETA program effectiveness provides valuable insights into the process of introducing and sustaining an effective SETA program in practice. The Lifecycle Model contributes to both theory and practice and lays the foundation for future studies.Item Critical success factors for Security Education, Training and Awareness (SETA) programme effectiveness: an empirical comparison of practitioner perspectives(Emerald, 2024-01-22) Alyami, Areej; Sammon, David; Neville, Karen; Mahony, CarolannePurpose: Cyber security has never been more important than it is today in an ever more connected and pervasive digital world. However, frequently reported shortages of suitably skilled and trained information system (IS)/cyber security professionals elevate the importance of delivering effective Security Education,Training and Awareness (SETA) programmes within organisations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is the questionable effectiveness of SETA programmes at changing employee behaviour and an absence of empirical studies on the critical success factors (CSFs) for SETA programme effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach: This exploratory study follows a three-stage research design to give voice to practitioners with SETA programme expertise. Data is gathered in Stage 1 using semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants (the emergence of the CSFs), in Stage 2 from 65 respondents to a short online survey (the ranking of the CSFs) and in Stage 3 using semi-structured interviews with nine IS/cyber security practitioners (the emergence of the guiding principles). Using a multi-stage research design allows the authors to propose and evaluate the 11 CSFs for SETA programme effectiveness. Findings: This study conducted a mean score analysis to evaluate the level of importance of each CSF within two independent groups of IS/cyber security professionals. This multi-stage analysis produces a ranked list of 11 CSFs for SETA programme effectiveness, while the difference in the rankings leads to the emergence of five CSF-specific guiding principles (to increase the likelihood of delivering an effective SETA programme within an organisational context). This analysis also reveals that most of the contradictions/differences in CSF rankings between IS/cyber security practitioners are linked to the design phase of the SETA programme life cycle. While two CSFs, “maintain quarterly evaluation of employee performance” (CSF-DS6) and “build security awareness campaigns” (CSF-EV1), represent the most significant contradiction in this study. Originality/value: The 11 CSFs for SETA programme effectiveness, along with the five CSF-specific guiding principles, provide a greater depth of knowledge contributing to both theory and practice and lays the foundation for future studies. Therefore, the outputs of this study provide valuable insights on the areas that practice needs to get right to deliver effective SETA programmes.Item Digital sustainability for energy-efficient behaviours: a user representation and touchpoint model(Springer, 2024-07-08) McCarthy, Stephen; Ertiö, Titiana; Fitzgerald, Ciara; Kahma, NinaIn response to climate change, nations have been tasked with reducing energy consumption and lessening their carbon footprint through targeted actions. While digital technologies can support this goal, our understanding of energy practices in a private household context remains nascent. This challenge is amplified by the ‘invisible’ nature of users’ interaction with energy systems and the impact of unconscious habits. Our objective is to explore how touchpoints embedded in digital sustainability platforms shape energy-efficiency behaviours among users. Building on data from semi-structured interviews and a two-hour co-creation workshop with 25 energy experts in the ECO2 project, we first identify three user representations of relevance to such platforms: energy-unaware, living in denial, and energy-aware and active. Our findings suggest that ‘static’ user representations (based on user demographics and average consumption) are giving way to socio-cognitive representations that follow users’ journeys in energy efficiency. We then develop a set of design principles to promote sustainable energy behaviours through digital sustainability platforms across user-owned, social/external, brand-owned, and partner-owned touchpoints. An analysis of user feedback from the ECO2 project shows support for our design principles across users’ journeys. Of 62 respondents covering all three representations, 76% of them intended to “implement changes in terms of energy consumption and energy efficiency”.Item The role of digital leaders’ emotional intelligence in mitigating employee technostress(Elsevier, 2024-03-29) Ertiö, Titiana; Eriksson, Taina; Rowan, Wendy; McCarthy, Stephen; TyösuojelurahastoDigital leadership involves dealing with complex challenges and anticipating trends that arise from emerging technologies. Amid the accelerated pace of digital transformation, consequences such as technostress have become apparent to organizations and their leaders. Emotional intelligence (EI) is an essential characteristic for enabling digital leaders to hone the necessary skills to lessen employees’ technostress by developing higher levels of consciousness of emotions—both one’s own and those of others. By synthesizing research-based knowledge of EI and leadership, we contribute to a broader understanding of competency requirements for digital transformation by bringing employees and the role of digital leadership through EI into the picture. This article also presents new EI strategies for digital leaders to mitigate employee technostress in digital transformation via communication, transparency, and trust.Item Teaching tip: Embedding sustainability in information systems design education(ISCAP, Information Systems and Computing Academic Professionals,, 2024) Rowan, Wendy; McCarthy, Stephen; Mebrahtu, Selam; Gauche, Christophe; O'Reilly, Kate; Odili, Damilola; University College CorkSustainability refers to the achievement of present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. While prior research has highlighted the potential of Information Systems (IS) to support sustainability objectives - for instance, through supporting eco-efficient work practices and democratising healthcare access - our understanding of how to integrate the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a core aspect of IS teaching and curricula remains nascent. This teaching tip presents a pedagogical design and teaching method for embedding sustainability in systems design education using design thinking and ‘active learning’ techniques. We provide examples of how students translated the SDGs into design concepts that target real-world sustainability problems with feedback from subject matter experts. Recommendations are then provided for supporting students’ experiential journeys when exploring sustainability objectives in the classroom by providing opportunities for variation and experimentation.