Investigating Flight Instructors’ Safety Behaviors Through Personality Traits, Affective Domain, and Safety Climate in the United States

Abstract: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between personality traits, affective domain variables, safety climate, and safety behaviors of certificated flight instructors (CFIs). Personality traits consisted of the five dimensions of the Big Five personality model, including Extraversion, Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Openness, and Conscientiousness. Affective domain variables included self-efficacy and risk perception. The study used an explanatory correlational design to determine the relationship between the targeted factors and safety behaviors. The dependent variable was CFIs’ safety behaviors. The sample consisted of 134 CFIs who completed all of the study’s protocols. Participants were recruited from a professional flight instructor organization (the National Association of Flight Instructors) and from flight training schools. A hierarchical regression analysis found Conscientiousness and the flight school’s safety climate were significant predictors of CFIs’ safety behaviors at Step 1 and Step 3, respectively. An independent mediation analysis also found that the relationship between flight instructors’ Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and their safety behaviors was partially mediated by their self-efficacy. Findings aligned with aspects of the Big Five personality model ( Costa & McCrae, 1992 ), and plausible explanations are grounded in Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (1977). The study’s findings provide strong evidence that flight instructors’ personality traits are potential indicators of their future safety behaviors and that the flight school’s safety climate also influences the safety behaviors of CFIs. The current findings align with research in construction, aviation, and nuclear power plant domains.