Date of Award

1-1-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Aerospace Sciences

First Advisor

Daniel K. Adjekum

Abstract

A convergent mixed-methods approach with data triangulation was utilized to assess the strength of relationships between operational risk factors, hazardous attitude, and resilient safety culture when mediated by mindfulness in the international air show community. An anonymous online survey of respondents’ perceptions, semi-structured interviews of air show experts, focus-group on air show performers, field observation at an air show, and a documentary analysis of air show safety event data was used to collect data. The quantitative findings suggest a good fit of a hypothesized structural model showing the relationships between study variables using structural equation modeling (SEM). Mindfulness (MF) significantly mediates the predictive relationship between hazardous attitudes (HA), risk perception (RP), risk tolerance (RT), and resilient safety culture (RSC) with a high effect size. There was significant predictive relationship between MF and RSC with medium effect size. Demographically, married respondents had significantly lower mean scores on MF compared to single and divorced while single respondents had higher mean scores on RT than married or divorced. The qualitative findings indicate that the RSC of air show performers has a negative correlation with RT and HA. The triangulation suggests military air show background was strongly correlated with RSC, MF, and a negative correlation to HA. This study provides a validated measurement model to assess the relationships between the study variables and fills a gap in the literature related to resilient safety culture in the airshow community. Theoretical and practical implications of this study provide a framework for continuous improvement of safety in the air show community.

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