Risk management through employees: Testing employees' voluntary scouting and corporate readiness for cyber risks

While such efforts should ideally be managed by a systematic procedure through a formal public relations function, the potential value of employees’ voluntary efforts cannot be ignored, considering especially that specialized employees may have access to forums and groups that public relations practitioners may not. Kim and Rhee (2011) define such voluntary behaviors as scouting-“employees’ voluntary communication efforts to bring relevant information to the organization” (p. 247). The role and value of employee scouting to strategic risk management is becoming increasingly crucial for all organizationsin the era of a networked society. The magnitude of scouting has been shown to depend on the quality of organization-employee relationship (OER) perceived by employees (Kim & Rhee, 2011). Effective management of OER may also increase the likelihood of online scouting.