Measuring the security culture in organizations

a systematic overview of existing tools

Journal article (2020)
Research Group
Safety and Security Science (TPM) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2020 Marlies Sas, Wim Hardyns, K.L.L. van Nunen, G.L.L.M.E. Reniers, Koen Ponnet
DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-020-00228-4
Organizational culture Organizations Measuring instruments Security culture Systematic overview
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Published Date

2020

Language

English

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Faculty

Technology, Policy and Management

Department

Values Technology and Innovation

Research Group

Safety and Security Science

Abstract

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.