Cornerstone of terror: the double-edged impact of fear appeals in a transformational information system security project

Researchers in Information Systems Security (ISS) have recommended the use of fear appeals in order to foster user adoption. However, research in the fields of ethics, management and consumer sales confirm that not only is the use of coercive methods less efficient but it can also cause resistance phenomena. The purpose of our research was to determine whether legitimacy be established through a sense-making process based upon fear appeals. We conducted a case study within a leading international group in the field of telecommunications. We investigated how the management team uses fear appeals to legitimize a large and transformational Information Systems Security project. Our exploratory study suggests that the implementation of fear appeals is more complex than literature suggests and shows that it has a double-edged impact.