singleblame

Singleblame is a term used in discussions of blame attribution to describe a tendency to assign responsibility for a negative outcome to a single cause or actor, rather than acknowledging multiple contributing factors. It arises in individual judgments as well as organizational narratives and is often seen in post-incident reporting, media coverage, and policy debates. Proponents argue that identifying a clear cause can simplify explanation, speed corrective action, and improve accountability. Critics, however, contend that singleblame oversimplifies complex systems and can obscure root causes such as process failures, design flaws, organizational conditions, or cascading effects.

In practice, singleblame can lead to scapegoating and a focus on personnel rather than systems, potentially hindering learning and long-term safety improvements. It is commonly contrasted with root cause analysis and systemic thinking, which seek multiple contributing factors and interactions among human, technological, and organizational elements. Some researchers view singleblame as a provisional narrative that can be useful for communicating risk while a more thorough analysis is pursued, whereas others see it as a default bias that should be avoided in safety-critical contexts.

The term appears in safety culture discussions, risk communication, and organizational psychology. See also root cause analysis, systems thinking, blame culture, and scapegoating.