David Hannah Paper on Confidentiality Selected for 2009 Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings

Dr. David Hannah and PhD candidate Kirsten Pankratz have co-authored a paper that will be presented at the 2009 Academy of Management Meeting in Chicago, IL. The paper “Why Follow the Rules? An Empirical Examination of Employee Responses to Confidential Information Rules” has also been selected for publication in the Best Paper Proceedings for the 2009 meeting.

Paper Abstract:
To survive in a competitive landscape, organizations must protect their confidential information. An important means of accomplishing this objective is the implementation of confidential information (CI) rules. However, the academic literature has largely ignored the topic of CI protection, and we therefore know little about when and why CI rules are effective. The goal of the research reported here was to begin to fill this gap in the literature. We conducted 55 interviews with employees in two high-tech firms, and based on data gathered in those interviews, we developed a theory of employee CI rule following. We theorize that employees’ acceptance of CI rules is a key antecedent of rule following, and that rule acceptance is in turn determined by employee perceptions of CI rule obstructiveness, effectiveness, importance, fairness, and ambiguity. Practical implications of the theory are highlighted for organizations interested in improving their confidential information practices.

For more information on Dr. Hannah’s research, click here.