The article, “Cybersecurity when working from home during COVID-19: considering the human factors,” examines the psychological and sociological impacts on employees forced to work from home (WFH) during the pandemic and how those impacts affected their cybersecurity behaviors. The core research question here is: How did stress, anxiety, shared spaces, and technology use impact an employee’s ability to maintain good cybersecurity practices while working from home? The overall hypothesis in this article is that these psychological and sociological factors increased the risks and difficulties of maintaining good cybersecurity practices.
This study relates strongly to many social science principles. For this article review, Relativism, Empiricism, and Ethical Neutrality will be discussed. This article employs Relativism by demonstrating how interconnected systems are. The changes in the employees’ work system had forced changes into their family system, which led to changes in their cybersecurity system. This study also employs Empiricism by relying on observed, qualitative data gathered from detailed interviews. Finally, the research in this article adheres to Ethical Neutrality, as the researchers must remain unbiased when interpreting the subjective, lived experiences of the WFH study participants.
The authors in this article use a qualitative research method known as Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), to gain a deeper understanding of the study participants’ experiences. The study collected data on employees’ perceptions, feelings, and behaviors from one-on-one interviews. The analysis of these interviews used thematic coding and interpretation to identify recurring patterns. The variables here are clearly defined: psychological and sociological factors related to WFH are the independent variables, which are believed to affect the dependent variable of effective cybersecurity practice.
This article directly connects with concepts from the class. It operates within social cyberspace and demonstrates how professional life merged with the social and family environment during the pandemic. It is also an excellent example of human factors, as many of the findings directly identify human psychological and behavioral limitations to inform the design and development of WFH policies, as well as technological safeguards. The findings are also relevant to families and cybersecurity since the article details issues with shared devices and other family aspects. Finally, the stress that the participants were feeling is a clear indicator of security fatigue, which causes reduced motivation to follow security protocols.
This study addresses several concerns of marginalized groups. First, it shines a light on the digital divide. Some employees lacked resources, space, secure internet, etc. This made it difficult for some who were forced to WFH. Second, it touches on socioeconomic groups that may be marginalized by living conditions, specifically those who had to share their already limited physical space. Employees in these situations likely had a more difficult time protecting sensitive data and maintaining privacy.
Overall, this study provides two overall societal contributions. First, it offers great qualitative insights that are necessary for organizations to develop human-centered WFH policies, as well as cybersecurity educational programs. Second, the study helps society to better understand the long-term mental and behavioral costs of switching to digital work too quickly. The information recorded in this article may help organizations to better manage security fatigue and other human errors in potential future crises.