A Demographic Research on Compassion Fatigue and Job Satisfaction Levels of Aviation Employees

Abstract

Aviation is a high-cost sector dependent on quality, risk and sectoral developments. Aviation businesses include not only flight activities, but can also be expressed with a broad-spectrum organizational structure such as passenger, ground, and airport ramp services. The activities that make up the most important part of the aviation industry, such as the wishes and demands of the passengers or the conditions of the passengers requiring special care, are carried out. Customer satisfaction is the main vision of aviation enterprises struggling under global competition. In addition, security, one of the basic principles of aviation, should not be ignored. For this reason, it can be said that aviation workers work under a multidimensional pressure. It is evaluated that both the various demands of the people receiving the service, the sectoral safety procedures, and the constant physiological effects (pressure, high noise, etc.) affect the compassion fatigue and job satisfaction of aviation employees. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the compassion fatigue and job satisfaction levels of airport employees. Although there are studies on job satisfaction in the aviation industry, there are no studies on compassion fatigue. Therefore, this study is a first in this field. This research applied to 653 employees working at 62 airports operated in Turkey. According to the results of the research, a difference was found between compassion fatigue and the education, age, duty, and income status of aviation workers. It can be stated that the factors that reduce job satisfaction are an important factor in triggering compassion fatigue.