Assessment of airport security culture in Nigeria

Abstract

The increase in technology and other parameters for security does not guarantee the expected secured airports without the appropriate behaviour, attitude, and customs of stakeholders. This study examines the airport security culture practices in Nigeria. The study adopted the Airports Council International (ACI 2021) survey instrument developed to assess security culture at airports. The instrument was designed as a questionnaire that presents eight dimensions of security culture with twenty-six (26) indicators using a 5-point Likert scale in order of agreement. The questionnaire was administered randomly to airport stakeholders, and a total response of 472 was recorded for data analysis. The data was subjected to exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to summarise and reduce the items to a few orthogonal ones representing Nigeria's common airport security culture practices. The study found that three (3) indicators relating to leadership roles do not significantly contribute to the factors serving as common security practices at airports in Nigeria. However, eight (8) common security practices were identified to be significant at airports in Nigeria. Strikingly, the study found that corporate security practices were not significant at Nigeria’s airports. The study highlights the need for airport managers to enhance security culture by adopting security as their corporate culture.