The Impact of the Psychosocial Safety Climate on Safety Behavior and Satisfaction: Focused on VR-Trained Airline Cabin Crew

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the policies and implementation of the psychosocial safety climate within airlines on cabin crew member safety behaviors and satisfaction through virtual reality (VR) training, with the aim of ensuring safe flights. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study was conducted to validate the established hypotheses and research models by employing 353 cabin crew members within a domestic company that provides VR training. Empirical research was executed using the SPSS 25.0 statistical package for data analysis. Findings – This study found that the psychosocial safety climate positively impacts the safety behavior of cabin crew, which is enhanced through airline VR training. Essential factors that promote organizational safety activities include management support and commitment, management priorities, organizational communication, and organizational participation and involvement. Moreover, managing the stress of flight duty-related cabin crews significantly impacts the relationship between safety behavior and training satisfaction. VR training helps improve organizational safety, and organizational efforts seem to encourage the active participation of employees in providing an environment where safe flights can be carried out. Research Implications – This study suggests the necessity of expanding and applying training programs using VR, not limited to VR training for cabin crew members, also considering the job characteristics of other departments, such as pilots and maintenance personnel. Also, this research explores methods for effectively managing human resources in airline cabin crews in accordance with the changed training methods, and provides reference materials for effectively conducting VR training in the future.