Breaking the silence: a cross-sectional study of psychological capital, job embeddedness, and silence behavior in...

This study aimed to understand the current status of silence behavior, psychological capital, and job embeddedness among operating room (OR) nurses, as well as to explore the relationships among these factors.

A cross-sectional study design was employed to investigate the relationships among psychological capital, job embeddedness, and silence behavior among OR nurses. Participants from four hospitals in Henan Province, China, were recruited via convenience sampling between July 2022 and October 2022. The study utilized the General Socio-Demographic Characteristics questionnaire, the Psychological Capital Scale, the Job Embeddedness Scale, and the Silence Behavior Scale. Structural equation modeling was performed using SPSS version 25.0 and AMOS version 26.0 to analyze the interrelationships among these factors.

A total of 395 nurses participated in the study, with an average age of 32.68 years (± 6.17). Among the participants, 143 were male (36.2%) and 252 were female (63.8%). The overall scores for psychological capital, job embeddedness, and silent behavior were found to be at a moderate level. The silent behavior of OR nurses exhibited a negative correlation with psychological capital. Job embeddedness showed a significant negative correlation with silent behavior, while it was positively correlated with psychological capital. Additionally, job embeddedness played a partial mediating role in the relationship between psychological capital and silence behavior among OR nurses.

The levels of silence behavior, psychological capital, and job embeddedness among OR nurses were moderate. It is suggested that managers may help improve the existing conditions of silent behavior by attending to consider attending to the psychological capital and job embeddedness of OR nurses, which were associated with lower levels of silence behavior in this study.