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Trust in Times of Cyber Crisis: Understanding Organizational Trust Repair in the Public Sector

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Electronic Government (EGOV 2024)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14841))

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Abstract

Increasingly, the public sector faces cybersecurity threats and is attacked by both criminals and hacktivists. Targets of such attacks are most often critical infrastructures. The repercussions of such attacks extend beyond technical systems, impacting social, organizational, and economic realms. As cyber threats proliferate and prevention becomes challenging, effectively managing the aftermath of a cyberattack, i.e. a cybercrisis, becomes more important. This article delves into a lesser-explored aspect of digital government research and investigates the impact of cyberattacks on trust relationships within the public sector. Moreover, it sheds light on the strategies employed by affected organizations to restore trust. The article uses the case of five municipalities affected by a recent large-scale cyberattack on a regional IT-provider in Germany. Drawing on a comparative case study, it investigates the complex interplay between cybercrises and trust, emphasizing the potential of trust repair tactics in mitigating the negative impacts of a trust transgression in the public sector.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the German Research Foundation under grant number FOR 5393.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Münster, Leonardo-Campus 3, 48149, Münster, Germany

    David Nowak & Bettina Distel

Authors
  1. David Nowak
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  2. Bettina Distel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Nowak .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Marijn Janssen

  2. KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Joep Crompvoets

  3. University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, USA

    J. Ramon Gil-Garcia

  4. Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK

    Habin Lee

  5. Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

    Ida Lindgren

  6. Institute of Computer Science, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Anastasija Nikiforova

  7. Krems Center for E-Governance, University for Continuing Education, Krems, Niederösterreich, Austria

    Gabriela Viale Pereira

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The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

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Nowak, D., Distel, B. (2024). Trust in Times of Cyber Crisis: Understanding Organizational Trust Repair in the Public Sector. In: Janssen, M., et al. Electronic Government. EGOV 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14841. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-70274-7_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-70274-7_9

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-70273-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-70274-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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