A cross-sectional study exploring associations between psychological safety, employee turnover intention and feedback skills in veterinary organisations.

Emotionally intelligent supervisor feedback fosters psychological safety and reduces veterinary staff turnover.

This cross-sectional study of 367 veterinary professionals in Australia and the UK examined how psychological safety influences turnover intention through the quality of feedback from supervisors and co-workers. Participants completed validated surveys measuring psychological safety, feedback quality from supervisors and peers, and intent to leave their positions. Results demonstrated that psychological safety positively correlates with high-quality feedback from both supervisors and co-workers, while negatively correlating with turnover intention. Notably, supervisor feedback partially mediated the relationship between psychological safety and turnover intention, suggesting that emotionally intelligent feedback from leaders simultaneously enhances psychological safety and reduces staff attrition. Co-worker feedback showed positive association with psychological safety but did not mediate the turnover relationship. The study acknowledges limitations including cross-sectional design, self-reported data, recall bias, and social desirability bias, with findings potentially limited to UK and Australian contexts. The research underscores the importance of emotionally intelligent leadership and skilled, respectful feedback in creating psychologically safe team environments and improving veterinary staff retention.

This summary was distilled by AI and may occasionally misinterpret data. Confirm critical details with the primary literature before clinical application.