How to conduct effective risk culture assessments

Assessing risk culture remains a major challenge for financial institutions, as existing tools often fail to capture its multidimensional and evolving nature. While prior research has focused on developing measurement instruments, less attention has been paid to the practical and methodological challenges involved in applying such tools effectively. This study provides practitioner-oriented insights into how risk culture assessments can be designed and implemented more effectively. Drawing on non-item-specific feedback from expert interviews conducted in the context of a broader risk culture measurement initiative aligned with the Financial Stability Board (FSB) framework, it identifies key considerations for improving survey-based assessments, focusing on general implementation challenges rather than scale-specific content. Using the Gioia method, 21 qualitative interviews with risk management experts were analyzed. First-order concepts were extracted and aggregated into eight second-order themes, which were synthesized into a practice-oriented framework for reflecting on the design and application of risk culture assessments. The eight resulting themes highlight critical design considerations: Clarity of Terminology, Optimization of Questionnaire Design, Reduction of Redundancies, Adaptation of Item Order, Limitations of Questionnaires, Scale Design, Time-Series Analysis, and Illuminating Risk Culture from Different Perspectives. These findings reflect both methodological insights and implementation challenges drawn from organizational practice. Rather than proposing a new measurement tool, this study offers a grounded framework for improving the application of existing instruments. By bridging regulatory guidance, expert experience, and qualitative theory-building, it supports the development of more context-sensitive and actionable approaches to risk culture assessment.