ICU nurses’ safety performance related to respect for safety and management commitment: A cross-sectional study

Background Healthcare work is one of the most accident-prone occupations globally. Nurses, especially those who work in Intensive Care Units (ICU), are very likely to experience mishaps on the job due to the complicated duties they perform. Safety performance through compliance and participation in safety is a proactive approach and a critical tool to measure the protection of employees, like these, in the workplace. Although interest in this tool has increased among hospital administrators and managers, scientific research has been limited in this area.Aims The study’s purposes were twofold: (1) to explore the effect of perceived respect safety on the safety performance of ICU nurses and (2) to explore the mediation effect of Management Commitment to Safety (MCS) between the relationship of perceived respect safety and safety performance.Methods Eight public hospitals from the Jordanian Ministry of Health (JMoH) were selected randomly using cluster sampling, and their ICU nurses were surveyed. A total of 285 nurses completed questionnaires. The SmartPLS3 bootstrapping technique was used to analyse data.Results The results established that the perceived respect for the safety of nurses has a significant and positive effect on their safety compliance (β = .39, p < .01) and safety participation (β = .34, p < .01), and that MCS mediated these associations.Conclusion The findings support the importance of developing and maintaining a culture of respect between management and employees, especially in terms of perceived respect for safety issues, and that culture will improve safety performance. The study explains the role of an active MCS, which contributes to understanding the research model fully. Practical implications for improving workplace safety also are added.Impact statement Recognition of the study’s findings by healthcare organisation managers would improve ICU nurses’ safety and ultimately decrease undesirable outcomes.