Corporate real estate management has become the strategic management of the\ud
company’s real estate portfolio that also includes risk management, to protect the\ud
business against developments, which could jeopardise the continuity of the\ud
organisation. However, risk management tools just represent the infrastructural and\ud
technical precondition, but it also requires an appropriate risk culture by all employees\ud
for an effective and comprehensive risk management system.\ud
Due to diverse shortcomings identified during the literature review, the researcher\ud
intends to contribute to corporate real estate management and risk management\ud
likewise, by investigating risk culture, theoretically and practically, through an in-depth\ud
case study. The case study unit is a corporate real estate organisation of a diversified\ud
retail and wholesale company based in Germany.\ud
From an academic viewpoint, the researcher has developed a general framework\ud
consisting of different key components associated with risk culture from the literature.\ud
This represents the conceptual basis for the case study that followed, to identify\ud
managerial expectations, i.e. the target risk culture, of the case study unit’s executives,\ud
through qualitative interviews (n=11). Based on this, the researcher aims to find out any\ud
differences between these expectations and employee’s perception, i.e. the existing risk\ud
culture, through a web-based survey of all their full-time employees (n=455). The\ud
described approach also represents a proven way as a theoretical concept to investigate\ud
risk culture in organisations.\ud
In terms of practical contribution for the case study unit, the survey responses (nr=199)\ud
confirms the biggest backlog demand in clarity and transparency of risk management\ud
processes, including employees’ knowledge of the respective policy, and cross departmental\ud
exchange. Management role model, sense of responsibility and\ud
entrepreneurial thinking is confirmed by the respondents which represents a\ud
fundamental basis towards their target risk culture. However, specific differences in risk\ud
culture exist by gender, age, location, job tenure and hierarchy level that is analysed and\ud
discussed, to develop more specific measures to overcome the identified deficits