ABSTRACT

Background: Psychology and organizational research suggest that leaders should be humble, be open about their limitations in knowledge and experience, and pay more attention to the psychological safety of their staff. Humble leadership and psychological safety are not studied in academic organizations. Aim(s): To compare humble leadership and psychological safety between nursing and non-nursing faculty and examine correlations between the studied variables and predictors of psychological safety. Methods: A non-probability convenience snowball sampling approach was used to recruit 99 faculty members (56 nursing academics and 43 non-nursing academics) from multiple universities in Jordan, utilizing a quantitative comparative cross-sectional design via an online survey. Results: Nursing faculty reported psychological safety (M = 3.18, SD = 0.80, 95% CI [2.97, 3.39]) versus non-nursing faculty (M = 2.99, SD = 0.31, 95% CI [2.90, 3.08]), p = 0.098. Humble leadership scores were similar: nursing (M = 33.14, SD = 9.54, 95% CI [30.64, 35.64]) and non-nursing (M = 32.60, SD = 5.32, 95% CI [31.01, 34.19]), p = 0.723.  Pearson correlation between humble leadership and psychological safety (both were continuous) was moderate and significant (nursing r = 0.410, p = 0.01; non-nursing r = 0.491, p = 0.01), and other correlations with sample demographics were reported after dummy coding these categorical variables. Regression analysis showed humble leadership predicted psychological safety: nursing (B = 0.192, 95% CI [0.028, 0.356], p = 0.024) and non-nursing (B = 0.182, 95% CI [0.051, 0.313], p = 0.009). Conclusion: Leadership interventions are needed to prevent destructive behaviors that lower psychological safety among nursing faculty. As humble leadership predicted psychological safety in both nursing and non-nursing contexts, further research is required. Implications for Nursing: Humble leadership significantly predicts psychological safety among nursing faculty.