Exploring Humility in Healthcare Leadership

This multi-phase research program advances understanding of humility in healthcare leadership by addressing critical conceptual and practical gaps in how humility is defined, enacted, and supported across clinical and educational settings. Study 1 employs a scoping review to clarify how humility (including clinical, intellectual, cultural, and professional humility) is defined and operationalized in healthcare literature. Study 2 uses qualitative interviews with clinicians, trainees, and patients to explore how humility is expressed, constrained, or transformed during moments of clinical uncertainty, with the goal of developing a grounded theory of “humility-in-uncertainty.” Study 3 integrates findings through an integrative review synthesizing intersecting constructs—such as psychological safety, emotional regulation, perfectionism, and leadership under uncertainty—that shape or inhibit humble behavior. Together, these studies will generate a context-sensitive and emotionally grounded framework of humility in healthcare, offering evidence-based recommendations to inform leadership development, psychologically safe learning environments, and more patient-centered care.