A systematic and bibliometric review on risk culture: a novel theoretical framework

Abstract

Purpose: This paper includes a systematic and bibliometric review of research products that address risk culture published between 1996 and 2019. Design/methodology/approach: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol has been followed for the systematic literature review. As to the bibliometric analysis, a network helps the readers to identify the most prominent research, if any, in terms of mutual references. Findings: Risk culture has been extensively investigated under different perspectives by scholars who belong to a research community not so much integrated in terms of reciprocal references. Practical implications: Managers, policy makers and politicians should learn that it is important to understand risk culture because the effectiveness of corporate strategies and reforms pass also through cultural values of people that determine their conduct in the everyday lives. Originality/value: Being still lacking, this article contributes to the literature by providing a novel theoretical framework that reconciles the different approaches through which risk culture has been investigated. The framework explains that behind risk culture there are always people and their behaviour facing risk and uncertainty. In the extent, bounded rationality might produce (mis)perceptions of risks, a large variety of human behaviour, and so different risk cultures can be observed.