Assessor Experiences in CMMC Level 2 Certification Assessments: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Role Expectations

--> Computer Science > Cryptography and Security arXiv:2605.27587 (cs) [Submitted on 26 May 2026] Title: Assessor Experiences in CMMC Level 2 Certification Assessments: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Role Expectations Authors: Samuel Heuchert , John Hastings View a PDF of the paper titled Assessor Experiences in CMMC Level 2 Certification Assessments: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Role Expectations, by Samuel Heuchert and John Hastings View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract: The Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program requires third-party assessments be conducted under a non-consultative model. The model is intended to ensure impartiality for organizations seeking certification. While this structure defines expectations for assessor behavior, assessor experiences and interpretations of these constraints remain underexamined. The study examines the lived experiences of CMMC-Certified Assessors and how they navigate role expectations within the non-consultative model. Using Role Conflict Theory as a guiding framework, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was applied to semi-structured interviews to explore how assessors make sense of their roles. The analysis identified experiential themes that describe how assessors construct professional credibility, execute structured assessment work, and manage the practical challenges of maintaining non-consultative boundaries. Findings indicate that assessors rely on technical competence, procedural discipline, and boundary management strategies to reconcile competing expectations. As an exploratory study, the results are not intended to be generalizable but provide initial empirical insight into assessor experiences, highlight considerations related to boundary clarity and assessor/organization interaction, and demonstrate the suitability of IPA for examining practitioner experience within cybersecurity compliance contexts. Comments: 8 pages, 3 tables Subjects: Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) ACM classes: K.6; K.4; J.4 Cite as: arXiv:2605.27587 [cs.CR] (or arXiv:2605.27587v1 [cs.CR] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.27587 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Samuel Heuchert [ view email ] [v1] Tue, 26 May 2026 18:56:40 UTC (224 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Assessor Experiences in CMMC Level 2 Certification Assessments: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of Role Expectations, by Samuel Heuchert and John Hastings View PDF HTML (experimental) TeX Source view license Current browse context: cs.CR < prev | next > new | recent | 2026-05 Change to browse by: cs References & Citations NASA ADS Google Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer ( What is the Explorer? ) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers ( What is Connected Papers? ) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps ( What is Litmaps? ) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations ( What are Smart Citations? ) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv ( What is alphaXiv? ) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers ( What is CatalyzeX? ) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub ( What is DagsHub? ) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub ( What is GotitPub? ) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face ( What is Huggingface? ) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast ( What is ScienceCast? ) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate ( What is Replicate? ) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces ( What is Spaces? ) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI ( What is TXYZ.AI? ) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower ( What are Influence Flowers? ) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender ( What is CORE? ) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs . Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax ( What is MathJax? )