Investigation of the Relationships Between Personality Traits of Leaders and Accidents in the Maritime Sector With Adaptation of the Five-Factor Personality Inventory Into Turkish

Year 2022, , 1 - 8, 28.03.2022

Hasan Selman Çulha , Leyla Tavacıoğlu

https://doi.org/10.33714/masteb.1018593

Abstract

Despite the many developments in the maritime sector in recent years, the number of accidents is still at a significantly high level. Beyond the accident analysis, which is defined as the reactive process, it is clear that more studies are needed in this sector, taking into account the personal traits of the employees and with the foresight that these traits may cause accidents. Statistically significant relationships were determined in this analysis, as a result of the five-factor personality inventory adapted into Turkish and the questionnaire covering the accidents (Occupational accident and marine casualty) on the ships of 156 leaders (Masters, chief engineers and chief officers). Participants who don’t have an ‘occupational accident’ history have higher conscientiousness and agreeableness personality traits than those who have occupational accident history; when considered as facets, it was understood that they had a higher sense of duty, self-discipline, and ideas. In addition, relationships were determined between ‘marine casualty’ and personality traits only in the context of facets. It is seen that participants who don’t have marine casualty history have higher gregariousness and lower values compared to those who have marine casualty history. Evaluations were made and some conclusions were reached with the understanding that the relationships identified in this study are similar to the results of the research conducted in this field of different sectors.

Keywords

Maritime, Personality, Occupational Accident, Marine casualty, Five-factor personality inventory

Thanks

The authors would like to thank all the ocean-going masters, chief officers and chief engineers who are the participants in this research for their valuable contributions. This article is derived from master’s thesis of the first author, entitled “Adapting the five-factor personality inventory to Turkish, determining the personality traits of the leaders in the maritime industry and its impact on accidents”.

References

• Arthur, W. Jr., & Graziano, W. (1996). The five-factor model, conscientiousness, and driving accident involvement. Journal of Personality, 64(3), 593-618. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1996.tb00523.x
• Babaei, M., Mohammadian, M., Abdollahi, M., & Hatami, A. (2018). Relationship between big five personality factors, problem solving and medical errors. Heliyon, 4(9), e00789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00789
• Bea, R. G., Holdsworth, R. D., & Smith, C. (1997). Human and organizational factors in the safety of offshore platforms. In R. G. Bea, R. D. Holdsworth, & C. Smith (Eds.), 1996 International Workshop on Human Factors in Offshore Operations (pp. 71-84). American Bureau of Shipping.
• Beus, J. M., Dhanani, L. Y., & McCord, M. A. (2015). A meta-analysis of personality and workplace safety: Addressing unanswered questions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(2), 481–498. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0037916
• Borch, D. F., Hansen, H. L., Burr, H., & Jepsen, J. R. (2012). Surveillance of maritime deaths on board Danish merchant ships, 1986-2009. International Maritime Health, 63(1), 7-16.
• Cellar, D. F., Nelson, Z. C., Yorke, C. M., & Bauer, C. (2001). The five‐factor model and safety in the workplace: Investigating the relationships between personality and accident involvement. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 22(1), 43-52. https://doi.org/10.1080/10852350109511210
• Christian, M., Bradley, J., Wallace, J., & Burke, M. (2009). Workplace safety: A meta-analysis of the roles of person and situation factors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5), 1103-1127. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016172
• Clarke, S., & Robertson, I. (2005). A meta-analytic review of the Big Five personality factors and accident involvement in occupational and non-occupational settings. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 78(3), 355-376. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317905X26183
• Drew, E. N. (2014). Personnel selection, safety performance, and job performance: Are safe workers better workers? [Ph.D. Thesis. Florida International University].
• Ewen, R. B. (2010). An Introduction to Theories of Personality (7th ed.). Psychology Press.
• Geller, E. S. (2006). People-based safety, an evolution of behavior-based safety for greater effectiveness. Proceedings of the ASSE Professional Development Conference and Exposition. Washington, pp. 12-13.
• Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public-domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. In Mervielde, I., Deary, I., De Fruyt, F., & Ostendorf, F. (Eds.), Personality Psychology in Europe (pp. 7-28). Tilburg University Press.
• IPIP. (2019, September 23). International Personality Item Pool. Retrieved on January 15, 2020, from https://ipip.ori.org
• Koç, M., Ayancı, M., Çolak, T. S., & Düşünceli, B. (2014). Kaza sayılarına göre kişilik profili: Kazaya yatkınlık. 5. Karayolu Trafik Güvenliği Sempozyumu ve Sergisi. Turkey. pp. 318-328.
• Makarowski, R., Plopa, M., Piotrowski, A., & Plopa, W. (2020). The human factor in maritime transport: personality and aggression levels of master mariners and navigation students. Advances in Cognitive Psychology, 16(4), 363-369. https://doi.org/10.5709%2Facp-0310-5
• Maurizio, E. (2013). The social world of seafarers, A sociological research in central Italy. Advances in Applied Sociology, 3(4), 199-205. https://doi.org/10.4236/aasoci.2013.34027
• Öngöre, Ö. (2014). A study of relationship between personality traits and job engagement. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 141, 1315–1319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.05.226
• Özbağ, G. K. (2016). The role of personality in leadership: Five factor personality traits and ethical leadership. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 235, 235-242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.11.019
• Özdamar, K. (2016). Ölçek ve Test Geliştirme Yapısal Eşitlik Modeli. Nisan Yayın Evi.
• Pourmazaherian, M., Mohammed, S. Baqutayan, S., & Idrus, D. (2017). The role of the big five personality factors on accident: A case of accidents in construction industries. Journal of Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, 7(1), 34-43. https://doi.org/10.11113/jostip.v7n1.65
• Roberts, S. E., Nielsen, D., Kotłowski, A., & Jaremin, B. (2014). Fatal accidents and injuries among Merchant seafarers worldwide. Occupational Medicine, 64(4), 259–266. https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqu017
• Rothblum, A., Wheal, D., Withington, S., Shappell, S. A., Wiegmann, D. A., Boehm, W., & Chaderjian, M. (2002). Improving incident investigation through inclusion of human factors. 2nd International Workshop on Human Factors in Offshore Operations. United States Department of Transportation - Publications & Papers. 32.
• Sampson, H., & Thomas, M. (2003). The social isolation of seafarers: causes, effects, and remedies. International Maritime Health, 54(1-4), 58-67.
• Thoms, P., & Venkataraman, R. (2002). Relation of Managers Personality to Accident and Injury Rates. Psychological Reports, 91(3 Pt 2), 1107-1115.
• West, R., Elander, J., & French, D. (1993). Mild social deviance, Type-A behaviour pattern and decision-making style as predictors of self-reported driving style and traffic accident risk. British Journal of Psychology, 84(Pt 2), 207-219. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1993.tb02474.x
• Yeke, S., & Semerciöz, F. (2016). Relationships between personality traits, cultural intelligence and intercultural communication competence. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 235, 313-319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.11.036