University at Buffalo School of Management

KUDOS Congratulations to the following School of Management faculty on their recent accomplishments: Kate Bezrukova, associate professor and chair of organization and human resources, received a grant from Negotiation and Team Resources to lead research that will analyze the importance of gender in interactions between humans and artificial intelligence. Michael Dambra was named the inaugural Kenneth W. Colwell Chair of Accounting and Law. James Lemoine, associate professor of organization and human resources, received the 2022 Faculty Award for Alumni Engagement from the School of Management Alumni Association. Spring 2023 Buffalo Business 21 A return to the office could be bad for computer security When employees feel they deserve superior technology compared to other employees — and they don't receive unre- stricted access to it — they pose a security risk to their companies, according to new School of Management research. Published in MIS Quarterly, the study explores technological entitlement, a feel- ing some employees have that they are more deserving of high-tech resources, uses and privileges than their co-workers. "When these exaggerated expecta- tions of special status go unmet, entitled employees lash out in aggressive acts of misuse or abuse," says lead author Laura Amo, assistant professor of management science and systems. "They have fewer qualms about breaking the rules because they consider themselves 'above' organiza- tional restrictions on technology." The researchers conducted three studies with independent samples totaling nearly 700 workers. In the first study, they measured past computer abuse behavior and perceptions of restrictions on technol- ogy use. In the second and third studies, they modeled computer abuse intent by investigating restrictions on remote access and on personal- and company-owned technology at work. Their findings show that technolog- ically entitled employees pose a direct threat to the information security of organizations. "If an average-sized company expe- rienced a 10% increase in technologically entitled employees, it'd have to spend an extra $90,000 each year to mitigate that risk," says James Lemoine, associate profes- sor of organization and human resources. "Proactive measures — such as user behav- ior analytics and employee training and awareness — can provide significant savings by reducing cyber risk." The researchers recommend involv- ing technologically entitled employees in the process of creating technology policies to encourage buy-in. Their findings also have implications for employees returning to the office — or being heavily monitored while working remotely — following the pandemic. "Businesses should carefully consider employee perceptions when deciding how to move forward with disabling or down- grading remote work options and imple- menting restrictions on remote workers," says Emily Grijalva, associate professor of organization and human resources. "Organizations that work toward estab- lishing fair policies will better mitigate security risks." Amo, Grijalva and Lemoine collabo- rated on the study with Tejaswini Herath, PhD '08, of Brock University Goodman School of Business, and H. Raghav Rao of the University of Texas at San Antonio Carlos Alvarez College of Business. Amo Grijalva Lemoine

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