Technology Category
Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Simulating Human BehaviorGame Theory and Economic Paradigms: Behavioral Game TheoryHumans and AI: Understanding People, Theories, Concepts and Methods
What Do We Know About the Psychology of Insider Threats?
🤖 AI Summary
Prior research on insider threats suffers from theoretical fragmentation, weak empirical foundations, and unclear cross-dimensional relationships, lacking systematic integration and coherent theoretical frameworks for psychological motivators. Method: This study conducts the first psychology-oriented systematic literature review (SLR) on insider threats, integrating three key variable categories—personality traits, psychological states, and personal situational factors—through theoretical synthesis and interdisciplinary conceptual mapping. Contribution/Results: It reveals the coexistence of multiple theories without a unified psychological framework and proposes a novel “Personality–Situation–State” (PSS) triadic analytical model. The study clarifies core psychological variables and identifies critical gaps in their causal linkages, thereby establishing a rigorous theoretical foundation for developing empirically testable psychological prediction models. This advances a human-factor-driven, proactive organizational security defense paradigm grounded in behavioral science.
Technology Category
Application Category
📝 Abstract
Insider threats refer to threats originating from people inside organizations. Although such threats are a classical research topic, the systematization of existing knowledge is still limited particularly with respect to non-technical research approaches. To this end, this paper presents a systematic literature review on the psychology of insider threats. According to the review results, the literature has operated with multiple distinct theories but there is still a lack of robust theorization with respect to psychology. The literature has also considered characteristics of a person, his or her personal situation, and other more or less objective facts about the person. These are seen to correlate with psychological concepts such as personality traits and psychological states of a person. In addition, the review discusses gaps and limitations in the existing research, thus opening the door for further psychology research.
Problem
Research questions and friction points this paper is trying to address.
Systematizing non-technical research on insider threat psychology
Addressing lack of robust psychological theorization in insider threats
Identifying gaps in psychological research on insider threats
Innovation
Methods, ideas, or system contributions that make the work stand out.
Systematic literature review on insider threats
Analyzes psychological traits and states
Identifies gaps for further psychology research
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