Organizational Safety Culture and Individual Safety Behavior: a Case Study of the Turkish National Police Aviation Department

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Organizational Safety Culture and Individual Safety Behavior: a Case Study of the Turkish National Police Aviation Department ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY CULTURE AND INDIVIDUAL SAFETY BEHAVIOR: A CASE STUDY OF THE TURKISH NATIONAL POLICE AVIATION DEPARTMENT by YILDIRIM URYAN B.S., Police Academy, Turkey, 1998 M.I.S., the American University, Washington DC, 2007 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Doctoral Program in Public Affairs in the College of Health and Public Affairs at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Summer Term 2010 Major Professor: Thomas T. H. Wan © 2010 Yıldırım Uryan ii ABSTRACT Human related accidents in high-risk industries amount to a significant economic hazard and incur tremendous damages, causing excessive operational costs and loss of life. The aviation industry now observes human-related accidents more frequently than in the past, an upswing attributable to cutting-edge technology usage and the complex systems employed by aviation organizations. Historically, aviation accidents have been attributed to individual unsafe behavior. However, contemporary accident causation models suggest that organizational-level factors influence individual safety performance, as human-related accidents take place in an organizational context. The present study examines the formation of organizational safety culture and influence on individuals‘ safety behavior in a police aviation environment. The theory of planned behavior guides the study model in explaining individual variability in safety behavior via organizational safety culture. The study conceptualized organizational safety culture and individual safety behavior as multidimensional constructs. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted for each latent construct to validate the construct validity for each measurement model. Organizational safety culture was observed via safety climate facets, which contained four subcomponents including individual attitude, group norms, management attitude, and workplace pressures. Individual safety behavior contained violation and error components observed by self-reported statements. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the study hypotheses. Utilizing a sample of 210 employees from the Turkish National Police Aviation Department, a 53-item survey was conducted to measure individuals‘ safety culture perceptions and self-reported safety behaviors. iii The results suggest that individual safety behavior is significantly influenced by organizational safety culture. Except for the relation between workplace pressures and intention, all suggested relations and correlations were statistically significant. The four-factor measurement model of organizational safety climate fit reasonably well to the data, and most correlations between the safety climate components were significant at the .05 level. Individuals‘ self-reported error behavior is positively associated with age, and individuals‘ self-reported violation behavior is positively associated with years of service. Overall, along with organizational safety culture, age and service-year variables accounted for 65% of the variance in intention, 55% of the variance in violation behavior, and 68% of the variance in error behavior. Lastly, no significant difference manifested among pilots, maintenance personnel, and office staff according to their self-related safety behaviors. The findings have theoretical, policy, and managerial implications. First, the theory of planned behavior was tested, and its usefulness in explaining individuals‘ safety behavior was demonstrated. The survey instrument of the study, and multi-dimensional measurement models for organizational safety climate and individual safety behavior were theoretical contributions of the study. Second, the emergence of informal organizational structures and their effects on individuals indicated several policy implications. The study also revealed the importance of informal structures in organizations performing in high-risk environments, especially in designing safety systems, safety policies, and regulations. Policy modification was suggested to overcome anticipated obstacles and the perceived difficulty of working with safety procedures. The influences of age on error behavior and years of service on violation behavior point to the need for several policy modifications regarding task assignment, personnel recruitment, health iv reports, and violation assessment policies. As well, managerial implications were suggested, including changing individuals‘ perceptions of management and group attitudes toward safety. The negative influence of anticipated obstacles and the perceived difficulties of safety procedures on individual safety behavior pointed out management‘s role in reducing risks and accidents by designing intervention programs to improve safety performance, and formulating proactive solutions for problems typically leading to accidents and injuries. v This dissertation is dedicated to the beautiful people of my country, Turkey. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the chair of my dissertation committee, Dr. Thomas T. H. Wan, for his invaluable guidance and support not only throughout the preparation of this dissertation but also since I began working on my Ph.D. in the Doctoral Program in Public Affairs at the University of Central Florida. I would also like to acknowledge the valuable contributions made by my other committee members: Dr. Lawrence L. Martin, Dr. Naim Kapucu, and Dr. John C. Bricout. It was an honor to work under the guidance of these distinguished professors. I am grateful to the Turkish National Police for sponsoring my graduate study in the United States, and Aviation Department for supporting my dissertation. I also would like to thank my colleagues from the TNP for being with me when I needed them. Finally, I am thankful to my wife, my daughter, and my son for their support and patience, without them this dissertation would never have been written. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... xii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS/ACRONYMS .............................................................................. xiv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Definition of Terms .......................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................ 7 1.4 Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 9 1.5 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................... 14 2.1 Human Error Models ...................................................................................................... 14 2.2 Organizational Culture ................................................................................................... 19 2.3 Organizational Climate .................................................................................................. 22 2.4 Safety Culture and Climate ............................................................................................ 26 2.5 Conceptualization of Safety Culture .............................................................................. 27 2.6 Previous Studies on Safety Culture ................................................................................ 31 2.6.1 Multi-dimensional Models ...................................................................................... 31 2.6.2 Higher Order Factor Models ................................................................................... 32 2.6.3 Theory Based Models ............................................................................................. 36 2.7 The Theory of Planned Behavior ................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................. 42 3.1 Statement of the Hypotheses .......................................................................................... 43 3.2 Study Variables .............................................................................................................. 46 3.2.1 Individual‘s Own Attitude toward Safety ............................................................... 48 viii 3.2.2 Group Norms .......................................................................................................... 49 3.2.3 Management Attitude toward Safety ...................................................................... 50 3.2.4 Workplace Pressures ............................................................................................... 52 3.2.5 Intention toward Safety Behavior ........................................................................... 53 3.2.6 Violation Behavior .................................................................................................
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