Career stage and truck drivers’ regulatory attitudes

• Published date: 14 November 2016
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-11-2014-0180
• Pages: 686-706
• Date: 14 November 2016
• Author: Matthew A. Douglas,Stephen M. Swartz
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics

Career stage and truck drivers’

regulatory attitudes

Matthew A. Douglas

Department of Operational Sciences,

Air Force Institute of Technology, Dayton, Ohio, USA, and

Stephen M. Swartz

Department of Aviation and Supply Chain Management,

Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to determine whether or not early, mid, late career stage truck

drivers view the safety regulations differently and how drivers’regulatory attitudes influence their

compliance attitudes and intentions.

Design/methodology/approach –This survey study is designed to evaluate the differences in truck

drivers’attitudes toward safety regulations across career stages. Moreover, the study applies ordinary

least squares path analysis to determine the influence of drivers’regulatory attitudes on compliance

attitudes and intentions.

Findings –Results revealed that drivers in early and late career stages harbor different perceptions of

the burden safety regulations place on driving operations, the effectiveness of driver-focused safety

regulations in maintaining road safety, and the acceptability of certain unsafe acts. Moreover, drivers’

attitudes toward regulations directly and indirectly influenced compliance attitudes and intentions.

Research limitations/implications –The participant sample was taken from employees of four

large motor carriers operating refrigerated and dry box trailers over the road in interstate commerce.

While the sample is roughly representative of this segment, the authors recommend caution in

generalizing the findings across the diverse US trucking industry as a whole.

Practical implications –Findings suggest that motor carrier management should tailor safety and

regulatory familiarization training across career stages. Moreover, carriers should provide targeted

communication regarding the effectiveness of regulations and impact of regulations on driving

operations in order to alleviate drivers’negative attitudes toward regulations where possible.

Originality/value –This study marks the first application of career stage theory to the motor carrier

safety context. This study also provides further evidence as to the efficacy of drivers’attitudes toward

safety regulations in predicting drivers’compliance attitudes and intentions. A better understanding of

these phenomena may lead to improved compliance and safety.

Keywords Compliance, Career stage, Commercial motor vehicle driver safety, Motor carrier safety,

Transportation safety, Truck driver attitudes

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

One highly experienced truck driver mentioned during an interview for this study: “[…]

all these regulations that they had put in […] hinder us from doing our job.”In some

respects, the motor carrier safety regulations (and enforcement of those regulations)

may be a burden that makes it difficult for professional drivers to efficiently perform

their primary duties and earn a good living (Moses and Savage, 1992, 1997). Carriers

and drivers, in general, are concerned with the perceived government control over

workplace behavior and the potential financial impact regulations may have on motor

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 27 No. 3, 2016

pp. 686-706

©Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-11-2014-0180

Received 14 November 2014

Revised 1 September 2015

Accepted 9 October 2015

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-4093.htm

The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or

position of the United States Air Force, Department of Defense, or the US Government.

686

IJLM

27,3

carrier and, ultimately, supply chain operations. Moreover, industry professionals and

researchers alike are concerned that negative attitudes may lead to higher levels of

turnover in an industry that already experiences high-driver turnover rates (Cantor and

Terle, 2010; Crissey, 2014). These attitudes and high levels of turnover could also have

safety implications.

However, industry professionals also agree that the safety regulations have helped

“clean up”the industry, are in place for good reason, and help maintain road safety for

multiple stakeholders. Evidence suggests that regulatory compliance and motor carrier

safety go hand-in-hand, and money spent on regulatory compliance programs is money

well spent (Corsi et al., 2014). In fact, the extant motor carrier safety literature reveals

myriad studies highlighting the linkages between regulations (and enforcement) and

carrier/driver compliance and safety performance (Chen, 2008; Cantor et al., 2010; Corsi

et al., 1984, 2012, 2014; Corsi and Fanara, 1988; Lantz and Loftus, 2005; Moses and

Savage, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997; Saltzman and Belzer, 2002; Savage, 2011).

The aforementioned studies were crucial to development of our understanding of

the impact of safety regulations and enforcement on motor carrier safety, in many cases

from a macro level. Recent studies have focused on the driver, assessing the impact that

safety regulations have on drivers’attitudes and behaviors (Cantor and Terle, 2010;

Kemp et al., 2013). As an example, evidence suggests that understanding drivers’

perceptions and attitudes concerning regulations and enforcement may assist carriers

and regulators in encouraging voluntary compliance behavior, which will in turn

improve driver safety (Cantor and Terle, 2010). Despite progress in this area, more must

be done to assess drivers’attitudes toward the regulations and determine the impact of

those attitudes on their compliance attitudes and intentions.

Interviews with drivers on the topic of safety regulations revealed that perhaps

drivers with more professional driving experience “know the game;”i.e. have faced

various consequences for their decisions (or none at all), and approach the regulations,

compliance, and safety differently than drivers who are newer to the profession.

Research in the motor carrier industry has also suggested that more experienced

drivers view various job-related factors differently than drivers with less experience

(McElroy et al., 1993). Therefore, career stage theory may be used to provide interesting

insight regarding the attitudes of drivers as they progress through their professional

driving careers. Additionally, evidence suggests that drivers’safety-related attitudes

influence their safety intentions and behaviors. Specifically, negative attitudes toward

compliance were positively related to hours of service violations (Kemp et al., 2013), and

drivers’attitudes toward unsafe acts (i.e. speeding, close following) were positively

related to drivers’intentions to commit unsafe acts (Swartz and Douglas, 2008, 2009).

Based on this evidence, drivers in different career stages are likely to have disparate

attitudes toward the safety regulations as they progress through their careers, and

those regulatory attitudes may also influence their compliance attitudes and intentions.

The assessment of drivers’attitudes toward regulations across career stages

combined with an assessment of the impact of their regulatory attitudes on compliance

attitudes and intentions has the potential to provide important theoretical, managerial,

and regulatory implications. The contributions of this study are multi-fold. To our

knowledge, no study to date has combined these aspects; drawing from career stage

and attitude theory to compare how drivers view the safety regulations across career

stages and how those attitudes might influence their compliance attitudes and

intentions. Moreover, drivers’attitudes toward regulations and the associated outcomes

have been scarcely tested, and with limited success (Douglas and Swartz, 2015).

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