A Critical Review of Staff Engagement with Performance Conversations Within Hywel Dda Health University Health Board. How Does Psychological Safety Relate to Engagement with Performance Conversations?

This study explored the relationship between psychological safety and engagement with performance conversations. This is a key area of intrigue within the field as it is multifaceted with several factors being highlighted as contributors in the literature (Denny et al., 2019; La Donna & Watling, 2018; London et al., 2023; McCutcheon, & Duchemin, 2020; Mertens & Schollaert, 2023). However, existing literature had not fully explored the role of psychological safety. This is vital to Hywel Dda University Health Board (HDdUHB) as it strives to engage staff with effective performance management (Gostling, 2020) which enables safe and efficient patient care (HDdUHB, 2018), training and retention (HEIW, 2023), under significant financial constraints (HDdUHB, 2024b). A mono-method questionnaire strategy was utilised to gain quantitative and qualitative data (Hammond & Wellington, 2021; Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill,2023), which could be explored deductively and inductively through the critical realism lens (Fletcher, 2017). Psychological safety was found to be significantly positively related to engagement with performance conversations. Manager behaviours and emotional intelligence were also related. Eight key themes were identified as barriers and enablers of engagement with performance conversations. Whilst staff from the Workforce Directorate reportedly experience more regular performance conversations than those reported by Sayers et al. (2018), there were inconsistencies with the frequency, perceived purpose and content of performance conversations which resulted in positive and negative emotional associations with performance conversations. Contrasting with Raišienė et al. (2020), no difference was found for engagement with performance conversations across time spent in the physical office or the location of the performance conversation. These findings have several implications including that they provide an enhanced understanding for future researchers on the relationship between psychological safety, emotional intelligence, manager behaviours and engagement with performance conversations. HR professionals can better understand their ability to influence engagement with performance conversations and they offer insight to HDdUHB and managers on how to foster and enable engagement with performance conversations.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

ma

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

masters

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Lawrence, Charlotte

• BF Seicoleg
• HD28 Rheoli. Rheoli Diwydiannol

Dc Identifier Grantnumber

UWTSD

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.uwtsd.ac.uk:3837