Survey of Attitudes Toward Aviation Safety Management System (SMS) Training: Impact of Gender and National Culture

Abstract

With a growing volume of traffic, the aviation industry is moving to fully embrace a predictive approach to safety management, which requires the implementation of safety management system (SMS) training on an international scale. An online survey was distributed through an International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) State Letter to solicit perceptions of SMS training from a variety of international aviation professionals. The survey collected 1,103 complete responses. The results identified robust differences in how SMS training is perceived by men and women and by professionals from different geographic regions. Female respondents had more negative attitudes toward training than did males. Regarding regional differences, Middle Eastern participants had the most positive attitudes while Europeans reported the most negative attitudes toward SMS training. The data suggest caution is warranted before global distribution of SMS training and illustrate the importance of a learner analysis, as individual differences among learners may impact the effectiveness and adoption of SMSs.