The effect of emotional intelligence on crew resource management skills of cabin attendants

In recent years, concept of emotional intelligence has gained importance in world of business. The contribution of emotional intelligence to success in every field of business has been proven by many studies. Aviation is one of the areas where the role of emotional intelligence is crucial. Today, safety is the priority of aviation. As a result of many accidents and incidents experienced, "Crew Resource Management" concept which means the effective use of all available resources for providing flight safety, has entered aviation literature by international aviation authorities. In the light of the experiences, the concept of crew resource management has evolved, and it has been understood how important it is in terms of flight safety to include cabin crews in the crew resource management concept that was previously only focused on the cockpit crew. In this study, the effect of emotional intelligence on crew resource management skills of cabin crews was investigated. Questionnaire was used as data collection tool. Shortened 17-question form of Bar-On emotional intelligence questionnaire and cabin crew resource management attitudes inventory were used and distributed to cabin crews of a private Istanbul based airline. A total of 363 questionnaires were distributed and all completed. The data analyzed using IBM SPSS 20 statistical program. Firstly, factor analysis, then simple linear regression analysis was applied. At the end of the study, most of the hypotheses were supported and it was concluded that emotional intelligence has a significant and positive effect on the crew resource management skills of cabin crews. Keywords: emotional intelligence, crew resource management, cabin crew