Investigating the effects of job demands and job resources on cabin crew safety behaviors

•This paper examines the effects of job demands and job resources on cabin crews' safety behaviors.•Job demands are negatively related to cabin crews' safety behaviors, while job resources positively related to them.•Job resources may buffer the negative impact which job demands have on cabin crews' safety behaviors.•The implications of the results for both human resource managers and airline safety are discussed.

Cabin crews are crucial to the cabin safety performance of airlines, and may enhance air travel safety and alleviate passenger concerns. Within the limited literature devoted to cabin crew related research, this study aims to examine the causal relationships among “job demands”, “job resources” and cabin crew safety behaviors. Data from a survey of 339 flight attendants working for Taiwanese international airlines were analyzed using structural equation modeling. A variety of fit indices confirmed the overall model fit, and all the paths in the model were statistically significant. Framed in the context of the job demands-resources model, the results reveal negative causality between “job demands” and “cabin crew safety behaviors”, whereas “job resources” are positively related to “upward safety communication”, “in-role” and “extra-role” safety behaviors. The implications of the results for practitioners and future research are discussed.