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This paper presents a qualitative study of penetration testing, the practice of attacking information systems to find security vulnerabilities and fixing them. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether and to what extent penetration testing can reveal various socio-organisational factors of information security in organisations. In doing so, the paper innovates theory by using Routine Activity Theory together with phenomenology of information systems concepts.

The articulation of Routine Activity Theory and phenomenology emerged inductively from the data analysis. The data consists of 24 qualitative interviews conducted with penetration testers, analysed with thematic analysis.

The starting assumption is that penetration testers are akin to offenders in a crime situation, dealing with targets and the absence of capable guardians. A key finding is that penetration testers described their targets as an installed base, highlighting how vulnerabilities, which make a target suitable, often emerge from properties of the existing built digital environments. This includes systems that are forgotten or lack ongoing maintenance. Moreover, penetration testers highlighted that although the testing is often predicated on planned methodologies, often they resort to serendipitous practices such as improvisation.

This paper contributes to theory, showing how Routine Activity Theory and phenomenological concepts can work together in the study of socio-organisational factors of information security. This contribution stems from considering that much research on information security focuses on the internal actions of organisations. The study of penetration testing as a proxy of real attacks allows novel insights into socio-organisational factors of information security in organisations.

Optimal application and commitment toward financial management practices enhance organization performance. This study aims to assess the influence of financial management practices on organizational performance of small- and medium-scale enterprises.

Data were collected from 45 small-sized and 72 medium-sized firms. Data supported the hypothesized relationships. Construct reliability and validity were established through confirmatory factor analysis. The conceptual model and hypotheses were evaluated by using structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that working capital significantly influenced organizational performance. Capital budget management significantly influenced organizational performance. A non-significant influence of asset management on organizational performance was observed.

The generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research’s SMEs focus and cross-sectional data.

The study’s findings will serve as valuable pointers for stakeholders and decision-makers of SMEs in the development of well-articulated and proactive financial management systems to ensure competitiveness, sustainability, viability and financial competences.

The study adds to the corpus of literature by evidencing empirically that financial management practices significantly influenced SMEs’ performance.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has shifted purchase behavior and accelerated the diffusion of modern retail channels via mobile application (or m-application). This work aims to frame a mechanism of m-application-based behavioral intentions in the COVID-19 context.

The authors designed a web-based survey to retrieve empirical data from 478 Vietnamese users. Quantitative approach and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed to test a research model.

Findings reveal that antecedents of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (i.e. performance expectancy and facilitating conditions), external influences (i.e. perceived imitation), m-application-related factors (i.e. additive value and alternative attractiveness) and COVID-19-related factors of Protective Motivation Theory (PMT) (i.e. perceived contraction threat, fear and social distancing) are determinants of use intention. Moreover, COVID-19-related dimensions and use intention have direct and indirect positive influences on purchase intention.

Practitioners should stay agile and focus greater attention on a mechanism in which consumer adoption and purchase intention are formulated in the pandemic.

This work narrows the gap by simultaneously identifying the importance of the dimensions from UTAUT and COVID-19-related factors from PMT, especially social distancing, integrated with additive value and alternative attractiveness of m-applications in forming the behavioral intention model in a disease context.