Guilt Appeals and Information Security Policy Compliance

Security has become a crucial part of project management. In particular, insiders' violation of information security can be critical to organizations. Effective communication with insiders can help organizations persuade insiders to comply with information security policies. Prior studies have been limited to fear-based messages. Our study focuses on guilt appeal as an emotional appeal that is related to individuals' inner value system and can be effective to increase security policy compliance of project members. We develop a research model with relevant constructs. We also discuss implications of our study in the context of information security and project management.