Empirical results of an experimental study on the role of password strength and cognitive load on employee productivity

Abstract

The demand for information system authentication has significantly increased over the last decade. Research has shown that the majority of user authentications remain to be password based, however, it is well documented that passwords have significant limitations. To address this issue, companies have been placing increased requirements on the user to ensure their passwords are more complex and consequently stronger with little consideration on the impact on employee productivity. Thus, this study was set to determine the effects of changing the password strength (cognitive load) over time and its impact on employee productivity. An experiment with two experimental groups and one control group was conducted. Data was collected on the number of failed operating system logon attempts, users’ logon times, task completion times, and number of reset requests. The data collected from 72 participants was analyzed for group differences and when controlling for computer experience, age, and gender. Our results showed significant differences on all measures between the three groups. However, no significant differences were observed when controlling for computer experience, age, and gender. Furthermore, the results indicated a significant difference between the user’s perceptions about passwords before and after the experiment. Our results may help organizations to realize the point at which increasing authentication places a higher cognitive load on the users, which in turn affects their productivity.

Do students with high grade point averages create better passwords?

“…A review of literature shows many factors affect the creation of passwords, including user behaviour [6]. One of the issues is that most users are more inclined to go for convenience -easy to create and recall -rather than ensuring their accounts (and therefore, the tool or system) are secure [7].…”

“…However, studies show that passwords remain to be the popular choice owing to its being easy to use and manage [8] [9]. This is despite the fact that passwords have limitations, which organizations addressed by defining more complicated and stricter requirements for password creation [7].…”