Corporate Security: Using Knowledge Construction to Define a Practising Body of Knowledge

Security is a multidimensional concept, with many meanings, practising domains, and heterogeneous occupations. Therefore, it is difficult to define security as a singular concept, although understanding may be achieved by its applied context in presenting a domicile body of knowledge. There have been studies that have presented a number of corporate security bodies of knowledge; however, there is still restricted consensus. From these past body of knowledge studies, and supported by multidimensional scaling knowledge mapping, a body of knowledge framework is put forward, integrating core and allied knowledge categories. The core knowledge categories include practise areas such as risk management, business continuity, personnel and physical security, and security technology. Nevertheless, corporate security also has interrelationships with criminology, facility management, safety, and law. Such a framework provides clear boundaries for the practising domain of corporate security, better reflects the security experts’ view of their practising domain, allows directed tertiary pedagogy, and presents what could be considered the scholarly area of Security Science.