Big five personality traits as predictors of safety attitudes in aviation maintenance personnel

This paper explores the relationship between personality traits, as measured with the Big Five Inventory, and safety attitudes among aviation maintenance personnel. A questionnaire-based study was performed with an adapted version of the Flight Safety Attitudes Questionnaire (FSAQ). A correlational analysis explored the relationship between the five personality traits and safety attitudes. The results indicated that safety attitudes were significantly positively correlated with extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness, while negatively correlated with neuroticism. Moreover, a robust regression analysis was conducted to determine whether personality traits explain additional variance in safety attitudes beyond the influence of demographic factors. The regression analysis has identified that conscientiousness, agreeableness, and extraversion can predict positive safety attitudes, even after controlling for demographic variables such as length of work experience and leadership roles. Conscientiousness was found to be the most influential predictor across all safety attitudes, including teamwork in emergencies and effective communication. Both total and role-specific work experience have the potential to contribute positively to safety culture and adherence to procedures. The potential integration of personality assessments into safety training may contribute to a positive safety culture and, thus, improved safety performance. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on personality-informed safety interventions. Also, it highlights the benefits that may be brought via tailored Maintenance Resource Management (MRM) training approaches for aviation maintenance personnel.