The willingness to adopt technology to enhance safety operations in the shipping industry

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to examine the willingness to adopt technology in safety operations in the maritime industry. As digitalisation is getting increasingly important, many industries have been adopting technology to enhance operational efficiency and safety. Maritime industry, however, has been slower than our counterparts like aviation and electric vehicles in terms of adoption. This study aims to discover the impacts of the digitalisation drivers in affecting the willingness of maritime professionals.

The study applied factor analysis to anaylse the seven constructs namely, “Perceive Usefulness”, “Perceived Ease of Use”, “Perceived Risk”, “Digital Savviness”, “Familiarisation”, “Behavioral Intention to Adopt” and “Shipping Safety Enhancement”. The consistency and credibility of the data was tested using reliability test. On top of that, ANOVA test was used to test for the differences between respondent demographics. Thereafter, multiple regression model analysis was utilised to examine the relationship between “Perceive Usefulness”, “Perceived Ease of Use”, “Behavioral Intention to Adopt” and “Shipping Safety Enhancement”.

The findings of the study revealed that the factors influencing the adoption of technology for safety enhancement in the shipping industry. “Digital Savviness” and “Familiarisation” with technology were found to impact willingness. Moreover, “Digital Savviness” positively correlated with “Perceive Usefulness”, “Perceived Ease of Use” and “Behavioral Intention to Adopt”. “Familiarisation”, however, exhibited a weaker influence. Additionally, “Perceived Risk” negatively affected behavioral intention. Finally, “Perceive Usefulness” and “Perceived Ease of Use” positively influenced behavioral intention, affirming their critical role in driving technology adoption for shipping safety enhancement. In addition, this paper provides recommendations to maritime companies, maritime professionals, technology providers and relevant regulatory bodies on the ways to increase willingness in technology adoption. The findings may have significant implications maritime industry and its stakeholders as well as researchers.