Just Culture in Aviation: A Metaphorical Study on Aircraft Maintenance Students

<p>Just Culture, a sub-dimension of safety culture, has been a prominent and debated topic in aviation safety in recent years. Just culture signifies a work environment where employees are motivated to provide essential safety-related information, but a clear distinction must be made between acceptable and unacceptable behaviours. The aim of this study is to examine the fundamental characteristics of just culture in the aviation sector. The phenomenology method, one of the qualitative research designs, has been adopted in the study. Purposeful sampling was used in the selection of participants, with the sample consisting of 78 students studying in the aircraft maintenance department of a public university in Turkey. The metaphor method was used to collect data in the research. The data collected from participants were subjected to content analysis, leading to the identification of the themes of the study. Content analysis revealed five fundamental themes that highlight the characteristics of just culture in the aviation sector. In this context, “providing balance and trust, being based on mutual relations, having systematic functioning, being contradictory, and being unique” were perceived as the core features of just culture. In the research, the metaphor most frequently associated with just culture was primarily the scale, followed by the utopia metaphor. Despite being an important managerial approach for aviation safety, the observation of some negatives in practice is a significant finding of the study. It is anticipated that the research will contribute uniquely to the literature on aviation safety and just culture</p>