Mobbing among seafarers: Scale development and application of an interval type-2 fuzzy logic system

Abstract

Mobbing is a universal problem in every industry, but it is a particularly serious problem for seafarers who are tied to their work 24 h a day, 7 days a week. In this study, it was first aimed to develop a mobbing scale for seafarers from Turkey as one of the countries that provide the most seafarers to the international maritime sector and to examine their mobbing behaviors. A total of 518 people participated in the development of the scale, while 211 participated in a validation study. Factors were determined using exploratory factor analysis and then the validity of the developed scale was verified utilizing confirmatory factor analysis. Secondly, an interval type-2 fuzzy logic system was designed based on the developed scale to deal with the imprecision and vagueness inherent to the answers to the questions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to employ interval type-2 fuzzy sets to measure mobbing behavior. The results of the study demonstrate that there are inverse relationships between the age, professional experience, and position of seafarers and the severity of the mobbing to which they are exposed. The study recommends that the awareness of mobbing be promoted among seafarers.