Sahar Farshadkhah
Department(s):
Management Information Systems
Title(s):
Assistant Prof.
Office Location
UHB 4087
Phone Number
217-206-6067
Email
sfars2@uis.edu

Dr. Sahar Farshadkhah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Management Information Systems (MIS) at UIS. She teaches Cybersecurity Management and MIS courses at the graduate level.

She earned a doctorate at Louisiana Tech University in Business Administration with a concentration in Computer Information Systems. She has five years of work experience as a Senior Business Analyst in well-known companies before discovering her enthusiasm for conducting research in the IS field, serving both academia and industry. Dr. Farshadkhah's main research interest focuses on cybersecurity. Her research focuses on understanding the behavioral aspects of cybersecurity and helping organizations mitigate information security violations, as well as increasing employees' information security awareness and compliance. She is also interested in cybersecurity pedagogy research to improve the cybersecurity classroom experience. Her research has been published in elite IS journals such as Computer & Security, Communication of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS), and Journal of Computer Information Systems (JCIS) and presented at prestigious conferences such as AMCIS, HICSS, and ICIS.


Education


  • DBA in Computer Information Systems, Louisiana Tech University (2020)
  • MSc in IT Management, Alzahra University (2012)
  • BSc in Industrial Management, Allameh Tabatabai University (2009)


Awards and Honors


  • Best HCI Paper Award (2025)- Midwest Association for Information Systems Conference (MWAIS)
  • Beta Gamma Sigma (2025)- Faculty inductee of Beta Gamma Sigma International Honor Society at UIS
  • UIS Early Career Scholarship Award (2023)-University of Illinois Springfield
  • UIS Faculty Engagement Award (2022)- University of Illinois Springfield
  • Teacher of the Year Award (2022)- College of Business and Management at UIS
  • The Best Doctoral Paper Award (2018)- The Pre-ICIS Annual Workshop on Information Security and Privacy (WISP)


Selected Journal Publications


  • Farshadkhah, S., Maasberg, M., Ellis, T.S., Van Slyke, C. (2023), An Empirical Examination of Employee Information Security Advice Sharing, Journal of Computer Information Systems (JCIS). Vol. 64: Iss.1, 31-46. (ABDC: A ranked).


  • Young, J., Farshadkhah, S. (2023). Teaching Tip: Hook, Line, and Sinker: The Development of a Phishing Exercise to Enhance Cybersecurity Awareness, Journal of Information Systems Education (JISE). Vol. 34: Iss. 4, 347-359. (ABDC: B ranked).


  • Young, J., Farshadkhah, S. (2022). "Teaching Cybersecurity Incident Response Using the Backdoors & Breaches Tabletop Exercise Game," Cybersecurity Pedagogy & Practice Journal. Vol. 1: Iss. 1, 4-17. (CBM List of Accepted Journals: C ranked).


  • Farshadkhah, S., Van Slyke, C., Fuller, B. (2021), "Onlooker Effect and Affective Responses in Information Security Violation Mitigation," Computers & Security, Vol. 100, 102082. (ABDC: A ranked).


  • Stafford, T.F., and Farshadkhah, S. (2020). "A Method for the Interpretively Synthesizing Qualitative Research Findings," Communications of the Association for Information Systems. Vol. 46: Iss.1, 117-133(ABDC: A ranked).
Research

Dr. Farshadkhah main research interest focuses on cybersecurity. Her research focuses on understanding the behavioral aspects of cybersecurity and helping organizations mitigate information security violations, as well as increasing employees' awareness and compliance with information security. She is also interested in cybersecurity pedagogy research to improve the cybersecurity classroom experience.