Original Articles
20 February 2025
Vol. 41 No. 3 (2019)
[Risk perception and personality: research in the transport business]
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All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
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Introduction. Socio-demographics, work, and emotional factors, together with experience of specific hazards, seem to play a joint role in the process of risk perception. Objective. The present study of 96 transport sector workers was carried out with the aim of verifying the role of personality in emotional states that moderate the process of risk perception and, more particularly, the perception of qualitative aspects of risk. Methods. The research, with a correlational design, analysed the personalities of the workers (measured through the Big Five Questionnaire), demographics and work factors, qualitative aspects of risk, perceived risk level, and other variables of interest, measured through ad hoc scales and items. The study was aimed at evaluating the existence of a relationship between perception of the qualitative aspects of risk and the following 12 variables: (Hpl) personality, (Hp2) socio-demographic variables, (Hp3) self-perceived knowledge of safety regulations, (Hp4) satisfaction, (Hp5) perceived quality of life.
Results. The results only partially confirmed the Hpl, and not for all the risk dimensions; moreover, they confürmed that age and length of service lead to a "presumption of control" effect (Hp2), while no gender differences were found. The Hp3 and Hps hypotheses were not confirmed, while satisfaction was a good predictor of the global level of perceived risk.
Conclusions. Jointly, personality factors are excellent predictors of specific qualitative risk dimensions, but it will be important to regularly verify their role and contribution in the emotional factors that affect the perception of risk.
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How to Cite
[Risk perception and personality: research in the transport business]. (2025). Giornale Italiano Di Medicina Del Lavoro Ed Ergonomia, 41(3), 211-220. https://doi.org/10.4081/gimle.561
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