Research pick: In logins we trust - "Impact of password management strategies on the trust enhancement in the digital era"

Password management strategies can foster trust in digital services, according to research in the International Journal of Business Performance Management. The biggest barrier to the use of password management is, of course, a lack of awareness among potential users despite campaigns highlighting how important it is to use strong passwords for one’s logins and not to use the same password more than once. The research represents a call to action for those offering digital services to encourage users to adopt a strong password management strategy.

Online activities touch almost every realm of our lives. We have online logins for countless different activities including banking, shopping, healthcare, education, work, and entertainment. Ensuring the security of one’s accounts is critical to staying safe online and not falling prey to scammers and fraudsters. The use of weak passwords across one’s different accounts can have disastrous consequences, if just one account is breached, then all one’s accounts with the same password might then be compromised. Password managers offer a way to have complex and unique passwords for different accounts, although there are other strategies that might be used for managing logins.

Nitin Bansal of the SBI School of Banking and Commerce and Krishna Nath Pandey of the Sunrise University both in Rajasthan, India, surveyed more than 400 people in the National Capital Region (NCR) of India to investigate the adoption of digital services, concerns regarding security, and how those that use digital services manage their logins and passwords. Fundamentally, people are increasingly willing to use digital services, but are often held back from doing so by security concerns. The research suggests that trust and usage can be improved by education regarding password management strategies.

The researchers suggest that digital service providers should prioritize customer education regarding password management strategies, government too should be leading national-level awareness programs and integrating computer security into the educational curriculum.

Bansal, N. and Pandey, K.N. (2023) ‘Impact of password management strategies on the trust enhancement in the digital era’, Int. J. Business Performance Management, Vol. 24, Nos. 3/4, pp.484–503.