Can individuals’ neutralization techniques be overcome? A field experiment on password policy

Individuals’ lack of adherence to password security policy is a persistent problem for organizations. This problem is especially worrisome because passwords remain the primary authentication mechanism for information systems, and the number of passwords has been increasing. For these reasons, determining methods to improve individuals’ adherence to password-security policies constitutes an important issue for organizations. Extant research has shown that individuals use neutralization techniques, i.e., types of rationalizations, to disregard organizational information-security policies. What has not been determined from extant information security research is whether these neutralizations c…