Understanding Psychological Safety in Health Care and Education Organizations: A Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Psychological safety plays a vital role in helping people overcome barriers to learning and change in interpersonally challenging work environments. This article focuses on two such contexts—health care and education. The authors theorize differences in psychological safety based on work type, hierarchical status, and leadership effectiveness. Consistent with prior research, the authors employ cross-industry comparison to highlight distinctive features of different professions. The goal is to illuminate similarities and differences with implications for future psychological safety research. To do this, the authors review relevant literature and present analyses of large data samples in each industry to stimulate further research on psychological safety in both sectors, separately and together.

Notes

¹ In later years, psychological safety questions were included in all 58,940 surveys with a 96% and 97% response rate, respectively.

² Unable to obtain teacher-level identifiers, we could not track individual teachers over time.

³ Leadership effectiveness was measured using four items inquiring about the managers’ role in leading organizational learning by listening, seeking input, and providing forums and resources that promote dialogue.