Does nationality affect nurses’ information security participation? A comparative study in Iran and Poland

Background
Confidential personal data breaches are a serious problem for medical service providers. They may result in high financial costs for medical care facilities and unnecessary stress for patients. Research on information security (IS) in healthcare has been insufficient thus far. International studies may add a new perspective on this issue.

Participants and procedure
A quantitative approach was assumed to analyse relationships between IS climate and IS indicators in countries with dif-ferent cultures (Iran and Poland). The Information Security Climate Index was used in the study. The software PLS3 and SPSS 22 was used for data analysis.

Results
The results showed that the predicted factors of nurses’ IS participation were different in Iran and Poland. In both coun-tries, nurses’ perception of the importance of IS had an effect on IS participation, but in Poland, IS compliance had an addi-tional positive effect. In addition, IS compliance moderated the relationship between IS motivation and IS participation.

Conclusions
Components of IS climate have a significant effect on nurses’ IS participation in both Iran and Poland, though nationality can modify this relation. However, in both countries, by linking IS policies with human resource management activities such as performance appraisal and training, nurses’ perception of IS importance can be increased and IS participation can be facilitated.