Inclusive leadership and voice behavior among early-career nurses: the conditional roles of work meaningfulness and proactive personality
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Introduction: Safety-focused explanations of nurse voice leave open whether the perceived value of work is associated with speaking up differently across proactive personality. Drawing on social information processing theory and an interactionist perspective informed by trait activation theory, we examined this conditional association among early-career nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 464 nurses in five tertiary hospitals in Harbin, China, assessed inclusive leadership, work meaningfulness, constructive voice, and proactive personality. Item-level confirmatory factor analysis and composite-score conditional process analysis were conducted. Results: Inclusive leadership was positively associated with meaningfulness and voice. The conditional indirect association through meaningfulness was positive at mean proactive personality (0.2502, 95% bootstrap CI [0.1857, 0.3197]) and increased with personality (index = 0.0744, 95% CI [0.0269, 0.1229]). The interaction added 1.29 percentage points of explained voice variance, indicating modest amplification; the personality-voice zero-order correlation was near zero. Discussion: The findings provide context-specific evidence for a conditional value-of-work account alongside safety-based explanations, without establishing causality or superiority over alternative pathways. Inviting suggestions and communicating the value of nursing contributions are practices worth evaluating. The data concern constructive voice, not demonstrated improvements in patient safety, and require longitudinal, multisource replication.
Source: Frontiers in Psychology
Authors: Xuerui Wang, Huiyu Wang, He Zhou
Institution: East University Of Heilongjiang
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7223182929