IS security, trust and culture: a theoretical framework for managing IS security in multicultural settings

Abstract

System security today focuses on the design of safe and secure information systems and their operation. In the analysis of any information system, whether small or large, one observes within it a “set of human activities related to each other so they can be viewed as a whole”. If one particularly focuses on security aspects of large information systems, and then considers the many layers of complexity comprising the human activity systems within them, it becomes apparent that one of these layers, or subsystems, is a cultural one. This paper proposes that the perspective gained on the impact of culture in such a system by the application of a systems theory, augmented by perspectives supplied by worldview theory, is helpful in designing appropriate learning, e‐commerce or other kinds of distributed environments for multicultural settings.