Security Culture in Commercial Banks: Employee Awareness, Training Effectiveness, and Compliance Behaviour in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

The increasing digitalization of banking operations has intensified security risks, making employee behaviour a critical component of organizational security frameworks. While technological safeguards are essential, their effectiveness largely depends on employees’ awareness, training, and compliance with security policies. Against this backdrop, the present study examines security culture in commercial banks in Tamil Nadu, with a specific focus on the influence of employee security awareness and security training effectiveness on security compliance behaviour. The study adopts a quantitative, descriptive, and analytical research design and is based on primary data collected from employees of public and private sector commercial banks operating in Tamil Nadu. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire measured on a five-point Likert scale. A multi-stage sampling approach was employed, and the final sample comprised bank employees with adequate exposure to security policies and training programs. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation, and regression techniques. The findings reveal that employee security awareness has a significant positive influence on security compliance behaviour, indicating that informed employees are more likely to adhere to prescribed security norms. Further, security training effectiveness demonstrates a stronger and more significant impact on compliance behaviour, highlighting the role of practical and role-specific training in translating awareness into action. The combined analysis confirms that awareness and training jointly explain a substantial proportion of variation in employees’ security compliance behaviour. The study contributes to the existing literature by providing region-specific empirical evidence on employee-centric security culture in the Indian banking context. Practically, the findings emphasize the need for commercial banks to strengthen continuous security awareness initiatives and invest in effective training programs to enhance internal security resilience and regulatory compliance.