Passengers‘ awareness and perceptions on safety and security measures and procedures in Airport Terminal Building

Abstract

This is a quantitative study looking at the passengers‘ awareness and perception on airport safety and security measures and procedures (ASMP) related to demographic factors. This current study is also looking at the difference between passengers with Malaysian nationality and passengers with non-Malaysian nationality in term of the awareness of ASMP in general, ASMP after 9/11, readiness of airport security service in handling unlawful acts, and consistency of ASMP among airports. A total of 100 passengers with international destination (22 Malaysian nationality and 78 non-Malaysians) at sterile area of the satellite building of Kuala Lumpur International Airport were selected via simple random sampling method to participate in this study. The scale for passengers‘ perception and awareness on ASMP was self-developed by the researcher, and statistical methods like t-test, gamma test, Cramers‘ V and Phi were utilized to test the hypotheses. Internal consistency reliability scores (Cronbach‘s alpha) were found to be above .60. Results showed that passengers with Malaysian nationality are significantly more aware of ASMP, both in general (p = .02) or after 9/11 (p = .00) compared to passengers from other nationality. It was also found that compared to passengers from other nationality, Malaysians passengers are significantly more aware on the readiness of airport security service in KLIA to confront any unlawful acts (.00) and they were also more aware on the consistency of ASMP among airports (.00). Out of several demographic factors studied in this research in term of their relationship with perception on ASMP, it was found that gender was the one with no significant relationship with the perception of ASMP ( p = .883). Age group is strongly and significantly related to the perception of ASMP (gamma = .849; p = .00), while marital status is also significantly related to the perception of ASMP (p = .00). Meanwhile, educational level and perception of ASMP have very weak and insignificant relationship (gamma = .129; p= .414). Perception of ASMP and ethnicity have significant relationship (Phi = .665; Cramer‘s V = .470; p =.00). While being Malaysians and Non-Malaysians have no significant difference in term of the perception of ASMP (p = .809), frequency of air-travels was strongly and significantly related to the passenger perception of ASMP (gamma = .616; p = .00), as well as income level (gamma = .784; p = .00).