Levels and Predictors of Leaders’ Humble Leadership, Participants’ Psychological Safety, Knowledge Sharing in the Team, and Followers’ Creativity in Nursing: A Cross‐Sectional Online Survey

Abstract

Aim. The current study investigated the levels and predictors of leaders’ humble leadership, participants’ psychological safety, knowledge sharing in the team, and followers’ creativity in nursing. Background. Humble leadership, psychological safety, knowledge sharing, and followers’ creativity are non‐nursing research fields, and humble leadership has recently been examined in nursing. Methods. A cross‐sectional research design was employed via an online survey. A nonprobability convenience snowball sample of 245 nursing academics (n = 85, 34.70%), nurses (n = 140, 57.10%), and nursing leaders (n = 20, 8.20%) was recruited from three universities and three hospitals. Results. The participants rated “high” the leaders’ humble leadership, knowledge sharing in the team, and followers’ creativity in nursing. However, participants’ psychological safety was precarious. The four variables’ predictors were assessed based on the sample’s characteristics. Leaders’ humble leadership did not predict participants’ psychological safety; the sole predictor of the variable was the organization’s quality initiatives. The predictors of knowledge sharing in the team were leaders’ humble leadership, age, level of education, and accreditation initiatives in the organizations. The predictors of followers’ creativity were leaders’ humble leadership, level of education, and quality initiatives in the organizations. The lowest means of the four variables should be immediately managed. Conclusion. Quality initiatives in organizations and the number of tenures were the most influential predictors of the four variables evaluated. Leaders’ humble leadership predicted knowledge sharing in the team and followers’ creativity, but not participants’ psychological safety. As followers’ psychological safety contributes to trustful relationships within the team, workplace boundaries and conducive work environments should be promoted. Training programs are required to develop humble nurses and leaders’ leadership.