Theories used in information security research: Survey and agenda

This chapter discusses the recent theories used in information security research studies. The chapter initially introduces the importance of the information security research and why it became so important recently. Following this introduction, "theory" is defined and the importance of the theories in information security research is mentioned. After this discussion, recently used theories (socio-technical systems theory, activity theory, distributed cognition theory, general deterrence theory, grounded theory, social cognitive theory) are listed and basic information about these theories as well as applications from the literature are given. Other recently used theories are also summarized in a table in the next section. The chapter finally ends with concluding remarks on the theories and recommendations to the researchers in the information security area.