How and when organization identification promotes safety voice among healthcare professionals

Abstract

Aim The aim of this study is to examine the effect of organizational identification on safety voice behaviour, focusing on the mediating role of safety motivation and the moderating role of management commitment to safety and psychological safety. Design The study used a cross‐sectional questionnaire and a convenience sampling method. Method Data were collected online during November 2019 from 165 staff members from a disability healthcare organization in Australia that employs over 800 staff. Nearly 80% of the study sample were healthcare workers without supervisory responsibilities, and the remainder were senior staff with some operational duties. Measures of organizational identification, safety motivation, perceived management commitment to safety, psychological safety and safety voice were collected. Data were analysed using a moderated mediation model available with the SPSS PROCESS macro. Results Findings show that organizational identification interacted with management commitment to safety to predict safety motivation, such that only healthcare employees who identified with their organization and perceived that their management cares about safety would feel that safety was personally important to them. In turn, safety motivation predicted safety voice. However, the effect of safety motivation on safety voice was only significant when psychological safety was low. Conclusion These findings offer initial evidence for the important role of organizational identification in prompting safety voice, how the relationship is contingent on management commitment to safety and psychological safety. Impact Healthcare professionals' discretionary sharing of ideas and suggestions are crucial to organizational performance and both staff and patient safety. However, safety voice involves inherent social risks because speaking up might not always be perceived positively by co‐workers and leaders. We recommend that managers implement specific strategies to cultivate employee identification with the organization and demonstrate a genuine and visible commitment to safety so that employees will be motivated to raise safety concerns.

Relationship between interprofessional teamwork and nurses' intent to leave work: The mediating role of job satisfaction and burnout

“…Specifically, when nurses perceive greater teamwork within their healthcare teams, they tend to be more satisfied with their jobs, effectively reducing burnout and resulting in reduced turnover intentions. Studies have found that the collaboration, communication, and interaction that take place when working as a team are known to increase nurses' organizational identification and sense of contentment, leading to higher intentions to stay 6,19 ; this underscores the importance of improving teamwork within healthcare teams as an organizational approach to providing holistic nursing care and enhancing nurse retention.…”

“…For example, studies have indicated that nurses tend to be committed, highly contented, and significantly more engaged in their work when they perceive their teams to be collaborative 16,18 . In other studies, increased teamwork has been linked to heightened organizational identification and sustained psychological well‐being among nurses 19,20 . Based on this evidence, it is likely that interprofessional teamwork within healthcare teams may reduce turnover intention among nurses by strengthening job satisfaction and reducing burnout 13,18 .…”

Nursing practice environment and employee silence about patient safety: The mediating role of professional discrimination experienced by nurses

“…Contextual-level factors are related to the healthcare facility and its organizational culture and administrative policies that support or oppress employee voice: they can be exhibited in the behaviour of the direct supervisor, the fear of retaliation and becoming professionally isolated, lack of action concerning previously raised issues, strict hierarchical communication, etc. (Alingh et al, 2019;Hu & Casey, 2021;Levine et al, 2020;Rich et al, 2019;Stimpfel et al, 2019). The broad system-level factors are formed by the prevailing culture in each country or local context and by the norms that define what is socially acceptable in each situation (Bruyneel et al, 2019;Kritsotakis et al, 2015;Sharp et al, 2019).…”

Can Organizational Identification Weaken the Negative Effects of Customer Bullying?—Testing the Moderating Effect of Organizational Identification

“…The higher organizational identification, the more employees will defend the organization as much as they defend themselves, and act to gain benefits for the organization ( Bradler et al, 2016 ). Research suggested that individuals have many different identities, but individuals strive to seek and maintain positive social identities, and once established, such positive social identities create positive incentives for individual behaviors ( Ng and Feldman, 2013 ; Hu and Casey, 2021 ). It has been shown that in the case of organizational identification, the outside world has a high responsibility and reputation for good deeds, and individuals will more often implement behavioral strategies that match their own identity ( Rosaz et al, 2016 ).…”

“…This paper posits that organizational identification is a perception of an individual’s relationship with an organization and can effectively explain individuals’ differentiated responses when faced with customer bullying ( Akerlof and Kranton, 2000 ). According to COR, organizational identification as a psychological resource can motivate employees to work proactively and positively, thus reducing the generation of negative cognition and behaviors ( Stamper and Masterson, 2002 ; Hu and Casey, 2021 ). Specifically, when individuals regard themselves as insiders in their organization, their sense of resource adequacy is potentially enhanced.…”