A behaviorist perspective on corporate harassment online: Validation of a theoretical model of psychological motives

Cyber harassment has been seen in the literature as a problem among school-aged children, or at the adult-level, as a legal problem involving attacks that have typically been associated with retaliation for some psychosocial or monetary gain. However, with the rise of the social networking phenomenon, cyber harassment has spread from school-aged children to a wider developmental and behavioral phenomenon. Companies and professionals are increasingly the targets of personal attacks on social network sites and in blog postings by ''trolls'' and ''cyber bullies''. Thus rather than gaining information, these kinds of attacks often disseminate misleading or false information to damage their targets, to interfere with them, or for the purposes of extortion. We conducted a randomized field study of a bounded population into motivations that may lead people to conduct these kinds of attacks, we validated the model empirically, and we drew some potential behavioral responses along with implications for further research.

[1]  C. Rogers,et al.  The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change. , 1957, Journal of consulting psychology.

[2]  Charles R. Crowell.  Meta View of Information Ethics , 2007, Encyclopedia of Information Ethics and Security.

[3]  M. Hardey.  Life beyond the Screen: Embodiment and Identity through the Internet: , 2002 .

[4]  T. Judge,et al.  Relationship of personality to performance motivation: a meta-analytic review. , 2002, The Journal of applied psychology.

[5]  I. Ajzen,et al.  Predicting dishonest actions using the theory of planned behavior , 1991 .

[6]  Rex B. Kline,et al.  Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling , 1998 .

[7]  H. Tajfel.  Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations , 1982 .

[8]  Monica T. Whitty,et al.  Liberating or debilitating? An examination of romantic relationships, sexual relationships and friendships on the Net , 2008, Comput. Hum. Behav..

[9]  Barbara M. Byrne,et al.  Structural equation modeling with AMOS , 2010 .

[10]  J. Ivancevich,et al.  Organizational behavior and management , 1985 .

[11]  Jeff Gavin,et al.  Age/Sex/Location: Uncovering the Social Cues in the Development of Online Relationships , 2001, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[12]  G. Neuman,et al.  Team effectiveness: beyond skills and cognitive ability. , 1999, The Journal of applied psychology.

[13]  Johannes J. Britz,et al.  Sticks and stones and words that harm: Liability vs. responsibility, section 230 and defamatory speech in cyberspace , 2002, Ethics and Information Technology.

[14]  Hans J. Eysenck,et al.  Handbook of abnormal psychology , 1962 .

[15]  Konrad Lee,et al.  Anti-Employer Blogging: Employee Breach of the Duty of Loyalty and the Procedure for Allowing Discovery of a Blogger’s Identity Before Service of Process Is Effected , 2006 .

[16]  L. Kohlberg.  The Claim to Moral Adequacy of a Highest Stage of Moral Judgment , 1973 .

[17]  Theodore Millon,et al.  Comprar Overcoming Resistant Personality Disorders: A Personalized Psychotherapy Approach | Seth Grossman | 9780471717713 | Wiley , 2007 .

[18]  Michael Workman,et al.  Gaining Access with Social Engineering: An Empirical Study of the Threat , 2007, Inf. Secur. J. A Glob. Perspect..

[19]  Katerina Ananiadou,et al.  Perceptions and experience of workplace bullying in five different working populations , 2003 .

[20]  M. Workman.  Wisecrackers: A theory-grounded investigation of phishing and pretext social engineering threats to information security , 2008 .

[21]  F. Levine,et al.  Law, Justice, and the Individual in Society: Psychological and Legal Issues , 1977 .

[22]  Christopher T. Burris.  Stand by Your (Exploitive) Man: Codependency and Responses to Performance Feedback , 1999 .

[23]  Allen C. Johnston,et al.  Mitigation of Identity Theft in the Information Age , 2007, Encyclopedia of Information Ethics and Security.

[24]  C. Morf,et al.  On self-aggrandizement and anger: a temporal analysis of narcissism and affective reactions to success and failure. , 1998, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[25]  F. Levine,et al.  Legal socialization : strategies for an ethical legality , 1974 .

[26]  Donald G. Dutton,et al.  The effect of interaction anticipation and experience as a victim on aggressive behavior , 1975 .

[27]  Mark J. Martinko,et al.  Toward an Integrative Theory of Counterproductive Workplace Behavior: A Causal Reasoning Perspective , 2002 .

[28]  Michael Workman.  Encyclopedia of Information and Ethics Security , 2009 .

[29]  L. Kohlberg,et al.  Developing Senses of Law and Legal Justice , 1971 .

[30]  P. Swingle,et al.  Exploitative Behavior in Non-Zero-Sum Games. , 1970 .

[31]  Karen Beck,et al.  Development of Affective Organizational Commitment: A Cross-Sequential Examination of Change with Tenure , 2000 .

[32]  Llandis Barratt-Pugh,et al.  Do policies on bullying make a difference? Contrasting strategy regimes within higher education in Australia and Croatia , 2009 .

[33]  Michael Workman,et al.  A test of interventions for security threats from social engineering , 2008, Inf. Manag. Comput. Secur..

[34]  Emilios Avgouleas.  The Handbook of Technology Management , 2009 .

[35]  P. Costa,et al.  Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) , 1992 .

[36]  Wynne W. Chin,et al.  On the use, usefulness, and ease of use of structural equation modeling in MIS research: a note of caution , 1995 .

[37]  J. Wolak,et al.  Escaping or connecting? Characteristics of youth who form close online relationships. , 2003, Journal of adolescence.

[38]  B. Skinner,et al.  Are theories of learning necessary? , 2013, Psychological review.

[39]  I. Ajzen.  Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control, and the theory of planned behavior. , 2002 .

[40]  A. Bandura.  The self system in reciprocal determinism. , 1978 .

[41]  D. Dillman,et al.  How to conduct your own survey , 1994 .

[42]  Katie Bonebrake.  College Students' Internet Use, Relationship Formation, and Personality Correlates , 2002, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[43]  M. Clark,et al.  Perceptions of Exploitation in Communal and Exchange Relationships , 1985 .

[44]  M. Workman,et al.  Punishment and ethics deterrents: A study of insider security contravention , 2007 .

[45]  Alessandro Acquisti,et al.  Privacy and rationality in individual decision making , 2005, IEEE Security & Privacy.

[46]  Paul D Jeanne Ellis Ormrod Leedy,et al.  Practical Research: Planning and Design , 1974 .

[47]  Monica T. Whitty,et al.  Cyber-Flirting , 2003 .

[48]  P. Costa,et al.  Domains and facets: hierarchical personality assessment using the revised NEO personality inventory. , 1995, Journal of personality assessment.