Risk assessment and behavior of social entities, such as societies, organizations or groups, are shaped by shared values and beliefs. Such shared convictions on how risk is perceived and handled are widely labeled as risk culture. While risk culture is a promising approach for comprehensively considering risk aspects in social dynamics, its structure still lacks conceptual clarity. In this regard, the recently introduced Risk Culture Framework (RCF) was aimed at providing an operationalization foundation for risk culture research through a 3x3 grid representing different cultural levels and influencing domains. However, until now, the RCF has neither been empirically applied nor tested. In the current study, the structural fit of the model is evaluated using empirical data pertaining to health risks gathered by an exploratory questionnaire (N = 500). For the sake of methodological consistency, the cultural level of implicit factors was not considered due to its methodological specificity. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to analyze the fit of the assumed model structure as well as that of other applicable models. Model indices for the RCF-oriented risk culture model structure were acceptable and better than those for the other models tested. Overall, results support the theoretical-based structure of the RCF, and provide a foundation for further research on risk culture. Future approaches and applications of the RCF to more specific risk subjects are discussed.

Risk culture shapes individual, group, organizational and societal risk perception and behavior, and, therefore, is a promising concept in risk analysis. Risk culture concepts are popular among practitioners since they have the potential to integrate different research strands and provide practical guidelines. However, such concepts are still ill-defined and their empirical foundations are limited. We introduce a new framework for risk culture that is derived from research on organizational culture and risk climate, and which aims to overcome the shortcomings of current models. The Risk Culture Framework is a 3x3 matrix that differentiates three influence domains (i.e. person, social context & risk situation) and three cultural layers (i.e. observable, non-observable & implicit factors). The framework can be applied in different contexts and fields of risk research. Each cell of the matrix can be filled with specific, proven factors that are relevant to the context of interest. The framework aims to enable integration of different disciplines and approaches, to enlarge the understanding of mechanisms that shape risk perception and behavior, to navigate the conception of research studies, to provide a blueprint for comprehensive risk measures, to guide practical risk analysis, and to facilitate benchmarking for appropriate risk cultures. Considerations for the application of the Risk Culture Framework, as well as its validation through future research, are outlined.