Today, the need to deal with workplace security threats has become an important matter for many organisations. While companies have invested in technological and organization measures, the human processes behind these techniques are often ignored. However, employees’ awareness of security procedures and policy of the organisation may strengthen or weaken the implemented security measures. This article assessed in an empirical way employees’ security awareness and has a twofold aim. First, a study was conducted to examine the associations between three dimensions of employees’ security awareness. By the use of a survey (n = 1,443; mean age = 42.5; 60.4% female, 30.4% male), the relationship between employees’ knowledge about security procedures and policy, the attitudes towards security and the self-reported security behaviour is measured. Second, a case study was carried out to examine the impact of training sessions on employee's level of security awareness. By organizing an awareness training, its effect on employees’ knowledge, attitude and behaviour was measured (n = 74; mean age = 51.7; 70.3% female, 29.7% male). While the first study found a significant relationship between employees’ knowledge and attitude and their self-reported behaviour, the second study showed that the training session had a positive effect on employees’ level of security awareness. Based on the findings from both studies, recommendations for practice and future research are presented.

The current study explores the role of individual and environmental determinants on students’ fear of crime. Based on a large-scale survey among students of a Belgian university (n = 1,463), the relationship between perceived social and physical disorder and the three dimensions of fear of crime (perceived risk of victimization, feelings of anxiety, avoidance behaviour) is examined. Support was found for a relationship between perceived social and physical disorder and perceived risk of victimization. Moreover, a relationship was found between students’ perception of social disorder and anxiety and students’ perception of physical disorder and avoidance behaviour. Based on the results, this study suggests that preventing or reducing visible signs of disorder on campus should inevitably be included in the university’s security policy. This research offers universities more insight in the determinants of students’ fear of crime and potential measures to increase their (perception of) safety.

As policy makers are developing new alternative strategies to prevent bicycle theft, a nudging approach could provide useful insights in this field. In the current study, two different nudges were implemented at a selection of bicycle parking facilities in the neighborhood of a Belgian university campus. To measure the effectiveness of the nudges, a multi-method approach was used with a combination of observations (n = 3963) and questionnaires (n = 197). The results showed that both nudges had a positive impact on cyclists’ locking behavior. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that nudging can be a rather cheap and easy way to improve secure behavior. However, concerns such as the limitations of increased awareness on behavior and the excessive focus on the victim need to be taken into account when implementing nudges in the field of security.

There has been an increase in research into the security culture in organizations in recent years. This growing interest has been accompanied by the development of tools to measure the level of security culture in order to identify potential threats and formulate solutions. This article provides a systematic overview of the existing tools. A total of 16 are identified, of which six are studied in detail. This exploration reveals that there is no validated and widely accepted tool that can be used in different sectors and organizations. The majority of the tools reviewed use only a quantitative method; however, security culture includes very different domains and therefore a mixed-method approach should be used. In contrast to security culture, instruments for measuring safety culture are widely available, and with many similarities between these two domains it is possible that well-established tools for measuring safety culture could be adapted to a security environment.

Only since the beginning of this century, the prevention of radicalization has become an important topic in debates about terrorism and sustainable development in developing countries. Research has shown that radicalized individuals are not uneducated, but have often completed secondary or tertiary education. Additionally, it became clear that some extremist groups consider the school environment as an attractive recruitment place. These findings led to a new approach where the education sector is considered as a prominent partner in preventing and combating the radicalization of young individuals. In this article, the potential limitations of the role of the education sector in developing countries are exposed. Based on previous research, three bottlenecks in the education sector were found: unequal access to education, poor quality of education and the relationship between education and employment. In order to strengthen the role of education for sustainable development in developing countries, it is recommended that equal access to education is improved, that schools invest in the creation of safe spaces for their students, that not only secondary but also primary and tertiary education are involved in policy strategies regarding radicalization, and that the job market is adjusted to the educational level of graduated students.

An increase in the use of information and communication techniques, the complex modern infrastructure and a closer connection between different systems and organizations have created a greater vulnerability with respect to physical security. While numerous conceptual models, metaphors and principles have been developed to manage safety risks, security can be considered as a relatively young field of science. However, because of the similarities and interwovenness between safety and security, much can be learned from the models and principles that have been developed within safety science. Both safety and security have the same objective, that is, to avoid or reduce any losses. This article explains how physical security relates to safety and which models and principles from safety science can be employed to manage company's physical security risks.

In recent years, many companies stepped up security efforts in chemical and process facilities. The need for the implementation of technological and organizational measures is accompanied by an increased attention for the human factor of the company’s security policy. In order to create a strong security culture, a high level of security awareness among employees is needed. The aim of this paper is to measure the impact of a training session on the level of security awareness. Based on the results of a quantitative research, the effectiveness regarding the security knowledge, attitude and behavior.of employees is measured.

Op gebied van veiligheid bestaat al een lange traditie van onderzoek, maar van beveiliging staat dit nog eerder in de kinderschoenen. De aanslagen van 9/11 hebben de aandacht voor beveiliging vergroot. Ook cybercriminaliteit en de bescherming van gevoelige informatie kwam de afgelopen jaren hoger op de bedrijfsagenda te staan. Deze recente focus weerspiegelt zich in het wetenschappelijk onderzoek, waar op het vlak van beveiliging nog maar een beperkt aantal concepten en modellen werden ontwikkeld.

A conceptual framework for physical security culture in organisations is proposed, based on the integrative model of safety culture, as developed by Vierendeels et al. (2018). The proposed conceptual framework for physical security culture has the advantage that it brings security threats, technique, organisation and human aspects together in a coherent, integrative and related way. The framework includes five main domains of security culture, being (a) an observable technological domain, (b) an observable organisational domain, (c) an observable human domain, (d) a non-observable organisational domain or perceptual domain, and (e) a non-observable human domain or psychological domain. These five main domains can be further divided into several more specific sub-domains of security culture. At their turn, these sub-domains can be translated into measurable security results, being (a) observable security outcomes, (b) the security climate of an organisation or the shared perceptions on security, and (c) the individual intention to behave secure or insecure. The aim of the framework is to take all security-related aspects into account – based on the specific security threats to which an organisation is exposed – leading to a pro-active approach of the physical security of organisations. The framework provides specific points of departure to make the security culture measurable, and by extension controllable.