Employee Motivation in Organizational Cybersecurity: Matching Theory and Reality

Cyberattacks pose a persistent threat to organizations worldwide. These attacks often target employees as entry points to organizational systems through tactics like phishing and credential theft. Recognizing employees as an organization’s “last line of defense”, motivating employees toward security-compliant behavior becomes paramount. While existing literature investigates theoretical frameworks for enhancing individuals’ motivation, studies regarding their practical implementation within organizational contexts remain scarce. This paper seeks to address this research gap by exploring how organizations motivate and incentivize security-compliant behavior among employees in Germany. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 participants from diverse organizational backgrounds, illuminating the topic from three perspectives: Executive managers, security specialists, and regular employees. Utilizing a classification derived from existing literature, we examine our findings to identify which motivational strategies are currently implemented effectively within organizational contexts. On this basis, we offer a set of actionable recommendations on how organizations can enhance and complement existing motivational strategies.