Incorporating risk perception and adaptive behavioral intention into new evacuation standards: Airline passengers’ responses to aviation emergencies

We examine how cognition and information shape passengers’ evacuation behavior in aviation emergencies. Using an integrated Protection Motivation Theory–Theory of Planned Behavior framework, we specify a structural model linking cognitive need, cognitive adaptability, and external information availability to risk perception and perceived capacity, which in turn drive evacuation strategy and adherence to procedures. We estimate a bootstrapped PLS-SEM on a passenger survey that includes respondents with disabilities, with controls for age and impairment. Results show that cognitive need and cognitive adaptability independently strengthen risk perception; external information availability also relates positively to risk perception. Risk perception and perceived capacity both reinforce evacuation strategy, and strategy predicts adherence to procedures. Control patterns are consistent with lower perceived capacity and less effective strategies among older passengers and those with mobility or sensory impairments. Taken together, the findings delineate a coherent cognitive–behavioral pathway and identify actionable levers for practice–briefings that elicit active processing, salient and accessible safety cues, and assistance protocols calibrated to passenger heterogeneity.