Authentic leadership, nurse-assessed adverse patient events and quality of care: The mediating role of nurses' safety actions

Abstract

Background: Authentic leadership has been consistently cited as a strong precursor of sustained job performance and work effectiveness in nurses; however, studies linking authentic leadership with nurses' safety actions, nurse-assessed adverse patient events and nursing care quality are scarce. Aim: To examine whether nurses' safety actions mediate the relationship between authentic leadership, nurse-assessed adverse events and nursing care quality. Methods: A multi-centre, cross-sectional study involving 1,608 nurses employed in acute care facilities in Oman. Multi-stage regression analysis was conducted in testing for the mediation model. Findings: Nurse managers in Oman were perceived to be highly authentic by their staff nurses. Authentic leadership significantly predicted nurses' safety actions (β = 0.168, p