A Configurational Approach of the Relationship between Information Security Management and Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya (Review Completed - Accepted)
Enterprises corresponding to a backbone of a modern society recognize information security management (ISM) as one of business management factors.Companies suffer significant financial and reputational damage due to ineffective information security management, severely impacting their performance and market valuation. Information security is vital for protecting important assets of organizations, including the information resources and the organization’s reputation. SMEs have the capacity to achieve rapid economic growth and in Kenya they employ about 85 percent of the Kenyan workforce. The need to link ISM with performance has become especially important for firms striving to achieve superior performance. However, there have been little documented evidences that existed for specific relationships between ISM and SME performance. To better understand this relationship, this paper takes a holistic approach guided by a cross-sectional research design. Using the hierarchical and moderated multiple regression (MMR) analyses, the theoretical models and hypotheses in this study were tested based on empirical data gathered from 94 SMEs that participated in the 2013 Top 100 Survey. The results revealed that entrepreneurial orientation significantly moderated the relationship between information security management and performance of SMEs. This study will enhance the skill set in Kenyan SMEs, producing a more sustainable solution, as well as contributing to the open literature.
Keywords: Information Security, Information Security Management, SME Performance, Small and Medium Enterprises, economic growth