Silence in Aviation: Development and Validation of a Tool to Measure Reasons for Aircraft Maintenance Staff not Reporting

Abstract

Background and purpose: Organizational silence, seen as the greatest obstacle to the success of organizations and expressed as a refraining from expressing feelings, and ideas about problems encountered in their organizations, is identified as the avoidance of voluntary reporting in aviation organizations. The main purpose of this research is to identify and develop a tool to measure the various reasons for aviation employees’ remaining silent about the unsafe acts and events they witness, and the factors causing them to refrain from adopting safety enhancement proposals. Methodology: Within the scope of the study, a data collection tool was developed. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis of the data obtained from 483 employees was conducted to test the reasons for not reporting voluntarily in aviation. Results: As a result, it was found that employees did not participate in voluntary reporting due to factors of silence based on relational and prosocial factors, disengagement, quiescence and acquiescence, along with fear and defensiveness. Conclusion: Accordingly, organizations need to acknowledge and act with the awareness that organizational silence is a common phenomenon. The importance of voluntary reporting should be explained to employees at every opportunity and the number of quality voluntary reports should be increased. However, this should go beyond the simple slogans of ‘Safety comes first in this workplace’ or ‘Safety first’ hanging on the wall of every organization.

Effect of Implicit Voice Theories on Employee Constructive Voice and Defensive Silence: A Study in Education and Health Sector

“…Previous studies also have found the belief of don't embarrass the boss in public and negative career consequences of voice as a predictor of employee silence. For example, Under and Gerede, (2021) and Milliken et al (2003) stated that fear is one of the most important factors in employee silence. According to the qualitative study conducted with forty employees by Milliken et al (2003), the main reasons why the employees avoid expressing their opinions about the problems are their fear and their beliefs based on these fears.…”

“…Employees remain silent, believing that it is not worth talking about the problems within the organization or that expressing their opinions will endanger them (Under and Gerede, 2021). Fear of receiving negative feedback from managers and avoiding opposing situations cause them to remain silent (Morrison and Milliken, 2000).…”

Safety Management System and Hazards in the Aircraft Maintenance Industry: A Systematic Literature Review

“…This study was included as it brings out a rather unusual hazard related to a language, as many safety occurrences are associated with misinterpretation and miscommunication of maintenance instructions. Under and Gerede (2021), studied the numerous reasons for employees' silence in aircraft maintenance organizations. Silence in this context means that employees are not reporting to the higher management the hazardous conditions, acts, and other such things having the potential to jeopardize the safety they observe in their functioning at the workplace.…”

Learning from Past in the Aircraft Maintenance Industry: An Empirical Evaluation in the Safety Management Framework

“…In contrast, voluntary reporting is directly from the front-line maintenance staff they encounter while performing aircraft maintenance activities on a day-to-day basis. When investigated, this anonymous or confidential reporting system provides safety information about the organization's latent unsafe conditions or acts without legal and administrative obligations [25,27]. A voluntary reporting mechanism offers learning opportunities to maintenance staff and aircraft maintenance organizations without suffering severe consequences if effectively and efficiently exercised [28].…”