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

TLDR

Psychological safety is essential for overcoming learning and change barriers in challenging work settings, particularly in health care and education. The study theorizes how work type, hierarchy, and leadership affect psychological safety, aiming to clarify similarities and differences for future research. The authors conduct a cross‑industry review and analyze large data sets from health care and education to highlight distinctive psychological safety features.

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.