Time Will Tell: An Idiographic Approach to Behavioral Cybersecurity Research (Cram et. al, 2024)

Welcome to Revise and Resubmit, where we dive deep into the cutting-edge research shaping our world today. In this episode, we’re taking a closer look at cybersecurity—a field that often relies on broad, sweeping studies to identify trends across large groups of people. But here's the catch: these one-time surveys and cross-sectional data only tell us part of the story. They show patterns, sure—but what happens when we zoom in, when we track the behaviors of a single person over time? That’s where an idiographic approach comes in, a method that shifts the focus from the population to the individual, revealing the nuances that are often missed. Today, we’ll explore how this approach challenges and refines the well-established neutralization theory, using data collected over four weeks to see how cybersecurity behaviors change day by day. What do we discover when we stop looking at the crowd and start watching the individual? And how can this change the way we think about cybersecurity altogether? Let’s find out! Reference Cram, W. A., D'Arcy, J., Benlian, A. (2024). Time Will Tell: The Case for an Idiographic Approach to Behavioral Cybersecurity Research. MIS Quarterly, 48(1). Paper Link https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2023/17707 For a detailed behind-the-scences interview of the Authors with Mayukh and Kaushik, check the MISQ Insider Official Linkedin Post at https://www.linkedin.com/posts/misqinsider_interview-time-will-tell-activity-7227748656714563584-hpeB alongside the interview video at https://youtu.be/p6FPsizFCyU?si=Fc32CpXI38cAZCB- Thanks to MIS-Quarterly (MISQ) to make this paper open access. MISQ is an ABDC A* and FT50 listed academic journal. MISQ Insider is an initiative by MIS Quarterly journal that connects new scholars and industry professionals with authors and academics in the Information Systems (IS) Community.