Safety as a management concept in the air transport sector: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Purpose: The main purpose of the present study is to conduct a literature review of the contribution made by safety in air transport, based on the existing international academic literature in the field of the social sciences. It primarily attempts to examine and verify the relationship between safety-related concepts (co-occurrence), the link between the different authors (co-authorship) and the corresponding citations (co-citations).

Methodology: To achieve the established objectives, a systematic literature review (SLR) has been conducted using the Scopus database between the years 1990 and 2016, identifying international academic papers related to the research topic of the present study.

Findings: It has been verified, on the one hand, that safety in the air transport sector is a field of growing interest, as the number of papers has increased considerably in recent years, thus demonstrating the importance that this topic has acquired over time. On the other hand, however, it must be mentioned that the total quantity of papers related to the topic is low in terms of absolute numbers.

The results of the co-occurrence analysis show that the most important aspect of safety is safety management, while the strongest link is between safety management and aircraft accidents, a fact that is foreseeable a priori. 

Originality/value: The approach used allows a better view of the academic contribution made in relation to safety; this serves as the link among the different elements of the concept studied, and it demonstrates the growing interest in this area.