Development a Job Stress Model with Commercial Pilots ─ In the Case of China Airlines

• Main Authors: Cheng Yung-An, 鄭永安
• Other Authors: William Jen
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/71906786546048172985

碩士 === 國立交通大學 === 運輸工程與管理系 === 89 === The job of a commercial pilot has several characteristics, such as “low job control level”, “high responsibility for passengers’ lives” and “limited decision-making resources and time in an emergency” etc. Therefore, the commercial pilot is viewed as a high stress occupation. Having reviewed the extant literature on job stress, we concluded that due to the lack of specially tailored methods and instruments for assessing job stress of commercial pilots, the proposed strategies for job stress management are too general to be suitable for pilots. We then attempted to develop a model as well as questionnaires to measure commercial pilots’ job stress, and to find out their most serious sources of job stress in order to help them cope better. The present study was based on the conceptual framework of “Sources of job stress — Moderators - Responses to job stress”. After consulting Dr. Lu‘s “Comprehensive model of job stress” and conducting interviews with managers and pilots, we formulated a model of commercial pilots’ job stress, including: 1) Contextual Variables (personal demographics and occupational factors); 2) Sources of Job Stress; 3) Moderators (Type A/B behavior, locus of control and coping stress strategies); 4) Responses to Job Stress (job satisfaction, mental health and physical health). In accordance with the model, we developed a questionnaire battery both in Chinese and English. Two principles guided our questionnaires development. First, adopt or modify available questionnaires of good reliability and validity, such as “Occupational Stress Index (OSI)”, “OSI Chinese edition” and “OSI Chinese Simplification edition”. Second, if the available questionnaires were not suitable, we then devised our own. The process of questionnaires development is in the order of: “constructing major variables of questionnaires”, “setting rules for designing questionnaires”, “devising the initial form”, “revising initial questionnaires with focus groups and interviews”, and “finalizing questionnaires”. The survey was conducted on Feb. 1st, 2001, with 897 pilots from the China Airlines as subjects. The valid sample was 605. Major results are as follows: 1.Results supported the Job Stress Model for pilots from the China Airlines. 2.Questionnaires used had good reliability, content validity and construct validity, and were suitable for measuring pilots’ job stress. 3.Six serious sources of job stress were identified for pilots (high workload of flight tasks, lacking work security and promotion difficulty, poor relationships or negative feelings among flight crews during flight, little experience with flight routes, too many meetings and training courses, unsatisfactory schedule results or scheduling methods). Pilot groups who perceived the highest stress on the above six sources were also identified. 4.We found the pilots’ “satisfaction with the organization” was significantly lower than their “satisfaction with the job itself” in the China Airlines, especially for pilot groups of “ROC nationality” and “seniority in the China Airlines for 5-9 and 10 and above years”. In addition, we also found that pilots’ “mental health” was significantly worse than their “physical health”, especially for pilot groups of “ROC nationality”, “high seniority in the China Airlines” and “longer total flying time”. 5.We suggested three approaches to help airlines and pilots to manage stress, namely, “effectively eliminating or attenuating the pilots’ serious sources of job stress”, “managing moderators to ameliorate the effects of job stress on stress responses”, and “ameliorating pilots’ serious responses to job stress”.