Pride and mistrust? The association between maritime bridge crew officers’ professional commitment and trust in autonomy

Abstract

Increased automation and autonomy are anticipated in the maritime industry, and safe operation is contingent on operators’ appropriate trust in the technology. Seafarers have a strong professional commitment, valuing practical experience and professional independence, which might be challenged by autonomous vessels. It was hypothesized that professional commitment would be negatively related to trust in autonomy and interaction with age of the officer. Using a questionnaire on bridge officers in Norwegian vessels (N = 2016), we performed a multiple linear regression to test the hypotheses. Professional commitment was significantly related to lower trust in autonomy, thus supporting this hypothesis. We found partial support for an interaction effect with age, as the effect of professional commitment was strongest among those with lower age. The model did not account for much variation in trust in autonomy and, therefore, seems to be largely related to aspects other than those considered in this study. Implications for future research are presented.