Sparking nurses’ creativity: the roles of ambidextrous leadership and psychological safety

Abstract

The leadership practices of nurse managers significantly impact the creativity of staff nurses; however, the effects of ambidextrous leadership on nurses’ creativity are not yet clear. Additionally, the underlying mechanism of this relationship remains to be identified. The study aimed to examine the effect of ambidextrous leadership on nurses’ creativity, directly and indirectly through psychological safety. In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from October 2023 to January 2024 involving 241 nurses working at three hospitals in Port Said, Egypt. The Ambidextrous Leadership Scale, Psychological Safety Scale, and the Individual Creativity Scale were employed. Descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling were conducted. Nurse managers’ ambidextrous leadership was positively associated with nurses’ creativity. Psychological safety fully mediated the association between ambidextrous leadership and nurses’ creativity. The study suggests that enhancing the ambidexterity of nurse leaders can foster a sense of psychological safety, which, in effect, contributes to increased creativity among nurses. There is a need for healthcare policies and strategies that are supportive of the implementation of ambidextrous leadership practices and promote psychological safety among nurses.