MIT Sloan Management Review Article on How Digital Trust Drives Culture Change

Privacy is a right, not a privilege. But organizations and leadership often struggle when it comes to adapting their culture toward digital trust and stewardship.

The past year has been critical for Facebook’s reputation, with the tech giant coming under scrutiny following extensive, high-profile data privacy breaches. The failure of Facebook to provide good answers to tough questions about how and why it uses citizens’ data has exposed the cracks in the trust infrastructure that underpins our digital economy. Today, companies can be considered “cybersecure” but still not employ processes that ensure the security of internal data and the integrity of data relations with external stakeholders.

We have entered a critical moment in the evolution of the digital economy where we must question where and how personal data should be used and determine who has the right to gain commercial profits from the insights generated by users’ digital data. Organizations must think critically about their own digital trust — an umbrella term we use to describe the behavioral guidelines and cultural principles that include data privacy, security, protection, and stewardship.

About the Author

Chon Abraham is an associate professor of information systems at the College of William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business and a military reserve cyber officer in the U.S. Air Force Chief Data Office at the Pentagon, and researches topics related to national cybersecurity interests. Ronald R. Sims is the Floyd Dewey Gottwald Senior Professor at the College of William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business. Sally Daultrey is a U.K.-based research analyst specializing in the geopolitics of cyberspace and the role for science in regional security strategy. Anne Buff (@anne_buff) is a strategic adviser and thought leader at SAS. Anne Fealey is a global chief privacy officer and self-described privacy evangelist.

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