An Evaluation of the Relationships between Collegiate Aviation Safety Management System Initiative, Self-Efficacy, Transformational Safety Leadership and Safety Behavior Mediated by Safety Motivation

The study conceptualized Safety Management System (SMS) initiative, self-efficacy, and transformational safety leadership as constructs that relates to safety behavior (measured by safety compliance and safety participation) when mediated by safety motivation using a quantitative approach. Structural equation modeling techniques was used to derive a final measurement model that fit the empirical data and was used to test the study hypotheses. Utilizing a sample of 282 collegiate flight students and instructors from a large public university in the US, a 46-item survey was used to measure respondent’s perceptions on the study variables. The results indicate that perceptions of SMS policy implementation have direct, positive significant effect on safety compliance and SMS process engagement has direct, positive significant effect on safety participation. Self-efficacy had direct, positive significant effect on both safety compliance and safety participation. Safety motivation fully mediated the effect of transformational safety leadership on safety participation. There were indications that respondents were not familiar with the Emergency Response Plan of the collegiate aviation program\u27s SMS. The theoretical and policy implications of this study to improve proactive safety in collegiate aviation are discussed