The impact of impulsivity on incident involvement in Chinese airline pilots: The serial mediating roles of risk perception and situation awareness

Abstract

Human factors are widely acknowledged to significantly influence aviation safety. However, few studies have examined the mechanism by which pilots’ impulsivity affects flight accidents and incidents. The primary objective of this study is to combine a social-cognition approach with a personality approach to investigate the relationships among impulsivity, risk perception, situation awareness, and incident involvement in Chinese airline pilots. The study sample consisted of 520 commercial airline pilots from China Southern Airlines Ltd. A serial mediation model was constructed and tested using SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 7.0. The results indicate a significant positive correlation between impulsivity and incident involvement; impulsivity was also found to influence incident involvement through the mediating effects of risk perception and situation awareness. Specifically, three mediation pathways were identified: (1) the independent mediating effect of risk perception, (2) the independent mediating effect of situation awareness, and (3) the serial mediating effect of risk perception and situation awareness. These results reveal that impulsivity affects risk perception and SA, which in turn affect accident involvement. This study deepens our understanding of the mechanism by which impulsivity affects flight safety, and offers guidance for aviation safety managers to develop pilot selection, training and intervention programs that can ultimately contribute to promoting flight safety.