Organizations face many cybersecurity threats. Among those threats, social engineering attacks such as phishing stand out as a constant and costly struggle. The primary tools for combating social engineering are information security policy (ISP) and security awareness training (SAT), which seek to inform users of the threat of social engineering,…

This dissertation contributes to an understudied area in organizational change research, the study of a reorganization. The perception of communication by employees, midlevel managers, and senior leaders during the decision-making process for organizational change and throughout the change was the focus of this case study. Previous studies have…

With the recent proliferation of information technology, almost all users of technology, no matter the field, profession, or status, have experienced a commensurate increase in information security threats. This, in turn, creates a significant concern in higher institutions of public learning. Information Security Officers in public higher…

The study of employees' intention to comply with information security policies in higher education is limited. This research thus embarks on an empirical analysis of the factors predicting employees' intention to comply or the lack thereof with respect to their institutions' policies. The theoretical frameworks utilized by the study's model for…

School system personnel are charged with numerous difficult, and sometimes conflicting, tasks. One of those tasks is to teach their students about their free speech rights while also maintaining order in the school building. Sometimes, when students choose to exercise those rights the results put administrators in a difficult situation of trying…

Unequal access to information has significant social and political consequences, and is itself a consequence of sociotechnical systems born of social, cultural, economic, and institutional context. Information is unequally distributed both within and between communities. While many factors that shape information inequality shift subtly over time,…

As social technologies become more integrated into students' lives, new means of communication have emerged, along with novel problem behaviors with significant consequences for students' well-being. One of these is the sending of sexualized images via cell phone, referred to as "sexting." An understanding of how and why some students…

Literature suggested that the mandated filtering required by the Children's Internet Protection Act of 2000 adversely affected the educational system. The literature stated that schools imposed more restrictive filtering than the Act mandated. School systems had the responsibility to ensure that children learn to read, write, and perform…

This study examined the digital and social media communication practices of nine urban universities including UMSL and compared those to known corporate best practices. The purpose of this study was to (1) research how these universities are using social/digital communications to engage with students and prospective students; (2) compare the…