A Study on the Establishment of Just Culture Accountability Decision Criteria and Procedures

Abstract

Article 60(2) of the Aviation Safety Act of Korea, as amended and effective on November 13, 2026, exempts mandatory occurrence reporters from administrative disposition except in cases of “intent or gross negligence,” yet provides no operational criteria, procedures, or deliberation structure for that judgment. This study develops just culture accountability decision criteria and procedures through a literature-based framework development design. Four accountability models (Reason’s decision tree, FAiR3, Marx’s Just Culture Algorithm, and Stewart’s Resilient Just Culture) were comparatively analyzed, and Hollnagel’s ETTO principle was integrated with a three-dimensional intentionality analysis (intention of action, awareness of rule deviation, and intention of outcome) to differentiate normal performance adjustments, at-risk behaviors, and reckless violations. The proposed framework comprises an 11-category behavior classification, a 3-zone/11-node decision tree, a reference mapping to legal concepts, a three-layer organizational response framework (learning–management–discipline), and a two-tier Just Culture Committee. Expert content validation and inter-rater reliability testing remain as subsequent research.