Does nursing leaders' humility leadership associate with nursing team members' psychological safety? A cross‐sectional online survey

Abstract

AimsThe leader's ability to act with self‐awareness, lead with generosity, and consider others' opinions is what defines humility leadership. In recent healthcare literature, there has been extensive exploration of humility leadership and psychological safety, but these studies were non‐nursing. It is crucial to understand how humble leaders can empower their staff's psychological safety, as inclusivity is a key aspect of humility leadership and is closely linked to psychological safety. Therefore, this study examined the association between nursing leaders' humility leadership and team members' psychological safety.DesignA quantitative cross‐sectional design was used in the current study.MethodsTo assess the studied variables, 245 nursing academics, nurses, and nursing leaders were recruited from different universities and hospitals using the convenience snowball sampling technique, yielding a response rate of 70%. After a pilot study, an online survey using Google Forms was hosted in 2022.FindingsThe psychological safety of nursing team members was not found to be associated with the humility leadership of nursing leaders. Despite the participants' reports of their nursing leaders exhibiting humility leadership (mean = 3.57/5, SE = 0.055), the participants also reported that psychological safety was borderline (mean = 3.09/5, SE = 0.041).ConclusionThe borderline nursing team members' psychological safety implies that different types of leadership may have an impact on the psychological safety of nursing team members. The lack of association between nursing leaders' humility leadership and the psychological safety of nursing team members highlights the need for further understanding and effort from nursing leaders to establish psychologically safe work environments.ImpactThis research offers valuable insights into how the humility of nursing leaders impacts the psychological safety of nursing team members. The psychological safety of the nursing team members highlights the specific responsibilities that nursing leaders should assume to establish psychologically safe work environments.Patient or Public ContributionThere was no Patient or Public Contribution, as the sample included nursing academics, nurses, and nursing leaders recruited from different universities and hospitals.Implications for Practice/Policy A simple intervention that humble leaders can initiate is inclusivity, where subordinates' positive worth, strengths, and contributions are acknowledged. Inclusivity is a characteristic of humility leadership. Improving teams'’ psychological safety calls to promote a culture of civility in the workplace. A random and larger sample is needed, including other types of universities and hospitals, using other research designs across other cultures.