The purpose of this study is to identify firm safety practices, safety technologies,
and firm characteristics that are related to motor carrier accident rates. The theory of the
firm suggests that firms maximize profit by investing in safety practices and safety
technologies until marginal cost is equal to the marginal benefit. The data set used in the
empirical analysis is unique, in that it will allow for testing of the relationship between
firm safety performance and safety practices, new safety technologies, and firm
marketing strategies. By testing the impact of the safety performance marketing strategy
on carrier accident rates, it can be shown that firm managers have control over the
safety performance of their firm through management decisions.
The results indicate that firms with a safety performance marketing strategy
have significantly lower accident rates. All tested technologies, and most safety
practices, are found to be negatively related to carrier accident rates. These results
support the idea that through investment policies, safety practices, and choice of
marketing strategy managers have a direct impact on their carrier accident rate.
Interestingly, the firm characteristics of unionization and use of owner-operators are
found to reduce carrier accident rates the most. This suggests that motor carrier
managers should consider their firm's characteristics in their management of carrier
safety. / Graduation date: 2003
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/32470 |
| Date | 21 April 2003 |
| Creators | Dammen, Sarah J. |
| Contributors | McMullen, B. Starr |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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