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Decision-making and risk-taking under uncertainty in safety-critical systems: a study among aviation employees

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2025

Akram Sadat Jafari Roodbandi Open the ORCID record for Akram Sadat Jafari Roodbandi [Opens in a new window] ,
Alireza Choobineh Open the ORCID record for Alireza Choobineh [Opens in a new window]  and
Mohammad Nami Open the ORCID record for Mohammad Nami [Opens in a new window]
Akram Sadat Jafari Roodbandi
Affiliation:
Research Center for Health Sciences, Institute of Health, Member of Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Alireza Choobineh*
Affiliation:
Research Center for Health Sciences, Institute of Health, Member of Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Mohammad Nami
Affiliation:
Cognitive Neuroscience Unit, Department of Social Sciences, Canadian University Dubai, Dubai, UAE
*
Corresponding author: Alireza Choobineh; Email: alrchoobin@sums.ac.ir
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Abstract

Aviation employees operate in a dynamic, complex safety-critical system that is filled with uncertainty, requiring quick and correct expert decision-making. The purpose of this study is to investigate the decision-making indicators among aviation employees. Fifty-five technical engineers and air traffic controllers participated in this study by completing the Cambridge Gambling Task (CGT) at one of Iran’s airports. The CGT provides one of the most reliable and widely used decision-making assessment tasks and related indicators, including decision-making quality, risk-taking, delay aversion, deliberation time, risk adjustment and overall bet ratio. Higher risk adjustment, less deliberation time, and a lower delay aversion index resulted in better decision-making quality. Higher risk-taking does not necessarily mean lower self-control. No significant differences were observed between the studied groups, including between air traffic controllers (both Ground and Tower vs. RADAR and Approach) and between air traffic controllers and technical engineers in the CGT performance. The decision-making quality increased with age and work experience, which has important implications for training and selection processes.

Keywords

air traffic controlaviationdecision-makinghuman factorsuncertainty

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 77 , Issue 5-6 , September 2024 , pp. 723 - 735
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Institute of Navigation

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