The moderator role of power distance in the effect of emotional intelligence on decision making styles within the scope of crew resources management skills: A study on airline pilots

The purpose of this study is to examine the the moderator role of power distance in the effect of emotional intelligence on decision making styles within the scope of Crew Resources Management skills. The population of the research is Turkish pilots in Turkish civil aviation sector and the sample of the research consists of 386 Turkish pilots. "Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire – Short Form (TEIQue-SF)" developed by Petrides and Furnham (2000a; 2000b) and adapted to Turkish by Deniz and et al. (2013), Decision-making Styles Scale developed by Scott and Bruce (1995) and adapted to Turkish by Taşdelen (2002) and Organizational Power Distance Scale developed by Yorulmaz and et al. (2004) were used as data collection tools in this study. According to research results; emotional intelligence levels of pilots have effect on rational, avoidant and spontaneous decision-making styles; power distance perception levels of pilots have moderating role in the effect of emotional intelligence levels of pilots on avoidant decision-making style and there is no statistically significant difference between first officers and other pilots within the scope of decision-making styles. Until this study, because any research concerning emotional intelligence levels, decision-making styles and power distance perception levels of pilots in Turkish civil aviation literature wasn't found, this study will make contributions to literature and findings reached in this study will constitute a basis for following studies.