Information securing in organizations: A dialectic perspective

Abstract

Based on a field study of information security with two large corporations, we conjecture that information security should be aligned with varying organizational structures while adapted to environmental contingencies. We thus introduce a novel concept of information-securing – security-oriented actions-interactions in organizations to interpret the fit/misfit dilemma. Also, we suggest that conflicts can constantly exist between organizational security and business goals. To that end, from a dialectic perspective we elucidate how and why organizations act toward one direction first (e.g. business-oriented), then another (e.g. security-oriented), and eventually a synthesized one.