Balancing Organizational Incentives to Counter Insider Threat

Traditional security practices focus on negative incentives that attempt to force compliance through constraints, monitoring, and punishment. This paper describes a missing dimension of most organizations' insider threat defense-one that explicitly considers positive incentives for attracting individuals to act in the interests of the organization. Positive incentives focus on properties of the organizational context of workforce management practices - including those relating to organizational supportiveness, coworker connectedness, and job engagement. Without due attention to the organizational context in which insider threats occur, insider misbehaviors may simply reoccur as a natural response to counterproductive or dysfunctional management practices. A balanced combination of positive and negative incentives can improve employees' relationships with the organization and provide a means for employees to better cope with personal and professional stressors. An insider threat program that balances organizational incentives can become an advocate for the workforce and a means for improving employee work life - a welcome message to employees who feel threatened by programs focused on discovering insider wrongdoing.