Airports at Risk: The Impact of Information Sources on Security Decisions

Security decisions in high risk organizations such as airports involve obtaining ongoing and frequent information about potential threats. Utilizing questionnaire survey data from a sample of airport employees in European Airports across the continent, we analyzed how both formal and informal sources of security information affect employee's decisions to comply with the security rules and directives. This led us to trace information network flows to assess its impact on the degree employees making security decisions comply or deviate with the prescribed security rules. The results of the multivariate analysis showed that security information obtained through formal and informal networks differentially determine if employee will comply or not with the rules. Information sources emanating from the informal network tends to encourage employees to be more flexible in their security decisions while formal sources lead to be more rigid with complying with rules and protocols. These results suggest that alongside the formal administrative structure of airports, there exists a diverse and pervasiveness set of informal communications networks that are a potent factor in determining airport security levels

Why do People Adopt, or Reject, Smartphone Security Tools?

A large variety of security tools exist for Smartphones, to help their owners to secure the phones and prevent unauthorised others from accessing their data and services. These range from screen locks to antivirus software to password managers. Yet many Smartphone owners do not use these tools despite their being free and easy to use. We were interested in exploring this apparent anomaly. A number of researchers have applied existing models of behaviour from other disciplines to try to understand these kinds of behaviours in a security context, and a great deal of research has examined adoption of screen locking mechanisms. We review the proposed models and consider how they might fail to describe adoption behaviours. We then present the Integrated Model of Behaviour Prediction (IMBP), a richer model than the ones tested thus far. We consider the kinds of factors that could be incorporated into this model in order to understand Smartphone owner adoption, or rejection, of security tools. The model seems promising, based on existing literature, and we plan to test its efficacy in future studies

Economics of soil and water conservation

The Ethiopian highlands, inhabited by the vast majority of the Ethiopian human and livestock populations, are under continuous threat from soil erosion. Land degradation induced by soil erosion is considered to be among the major factors responsible for the recurrent malnutrition and famine problems in Ethiopia. Conservation efforts during recent decades have succeeded neither in triggering voluntary adoption of conservation practices nor in mitigating soil erosion problems. The purpose of this thesis is, therefore, to understand the socio-economic aspects underlying soil and water conservation decisions in the context of subsistence farmers in the Eastern Highlands of Ethiopia. In articles I, III, and IV, the farmers’ decision problem is modeled as a utility maximization problem, and econometric models are used to link the statistical model of observed data and the economic model. Stochastic dominance criteria are used, in article I, to determine whether adoption of a conservation practice results in higher expected grain yield and income and/or reduced variability. Limited dependent variable econometric models are used in articles III and IV in order to determine factors that influence farmers’ decisions on soil and water conservation, and their preference for types of development intervention. In article II, the decision problem is modeled as an intertemporal net benefit maximization problem, and a dynamic programming optimization model is applied to determine the optimal path of investment in soil and water conservation. Findings in article I suggest that conservation results in higher expected grain yield and income, but does not support the hypothesis that conservation unambiguously results in less variability than no-conservation. In article II, it is shown that the optimal path of investment in soil and water conservation depends on the discount rate and grain prices. The results also suggest that erosive agricultural practices yield higher return in the short-term, whereas conservation yields a higher and sustainable return in the long-term. The need to design incentive mechanisms that encourage farmers to have a longer planning horizon are among important suggestions proposed in articles I and II. Results, in article III, suggest that specific physical conditions of plots and socioeconomic characteristics of farm households influence the soil and water conservation decision behavior of farmers. Article IV suggests that the perceived priority of farmers with regard to agricultural problems and socio-economic characteristics, determines their preference for the type of development intervention. The results also suggest that there exists a complementarity between different interventions and hence a need to address them simultaneously to ensure a higher return from interventions. An important lesson to be drawn from articles III and IV is that differences in farming conditions and complementarities between policy programs need to be noted in any intervention program

Why Do People Adopt, or Reject, Smartphone Password Managers?

People use weak passwords for a variety of reasons, the most prescient of these being memory load and inconvenience. The motivation to choose weak passwords is even more compelling on Smartphones because entering complex passwords is particularly time consuming and arduous on small devices. Many of the memory- and inconvenience-related issues can be ameliorated by using a password manager app. Such an app can generate, remember and automatically supply passwords to websites and other apps on the phone. Given this potential, it is unfortunate that these applications have not enjoyed widespread adoption. We carried out a study to find out why this was so, to investigate factors that impeded or encouraged password manager adoption. We found that a number of factors mediated during all three phases of adoption: searching, deciding and trialling. The study’s findings will help us to market these tools more effectively in order to encourage future adoption of password managers

Psychological approaches to the study of saving / 7

Bibliography: p. 95-114

Impact of Airbnb on customers' behaviour in the UK hotel industry

Airbnb is one of the sectors of the sharing economy that is disrupting the hotel industries. In order to find approaches for hotels to mitigate the threat from Airbnb, this research will focus on the major elements influencing customers to choose Airbnb and the issues for the future of the hotel industry. Previous studies have looked at how Airbnb influences customer behaviour, and the impact of Airbnb on the hotel industry, but so far no study has been conducted focusing on the impact of Airbnb on the UK hotel industry. Therefore the purpose of this research is to evaluate the impact of Airbnb on customers’ behaviour within the UK hotel industry in order to determine how the hotel sectors can mitigate the threats posed by Airbnb. This paper highlights managerial and industrial implications

On-line privacy behavior: using user interfaces for salient factors

The problem of privacy in social networks is well documented within literature; users have privacy concerns however, they consistently disclose their sensitive information and leave it open to unintended third parties. While numerous causes of poor behaviour have been suggested by research the role of the User Interface (UI) and the system itself is underexplored. The field of Persuasive Technology would suggest that Social Network Systems persuade users to deviate from their normal or habitual behaviour. This paper makes the case that the UI can be used as the basis for user empowerment by informing them of their privacy at the point of interaction and reminding them of their privacy needs. The Theory of Planned Behaviour is introduced as a potential theoretical foundation for exploring the psychology behind privacy behaviour as it describes the salient factors that influence intention and action. Based on these factors of personal attitude, subjective norms and perceived control, a series of UIs are presented and implemented in controlled experiments examining their effect on personal information disclosure. This is combined with observations and interviews with the participants. Results from this initial, pilot experiment suggest groups with privacy salient information embedded exhibit less disclosure than the control group. This work reviews this approach as a method for exploring privacy behaviour and proposes further work required