Social capital and quality emphasis: A cross-sectional multicenter study in German hospitals

Background: The health services sector is focusing increasingly on the concept of quality management to assure a high-standard and patient-centred care. The successful implementation of quality management in hospitals requires quality emphasis of all team members. Research has shown that aspects of organizational culture in hospitals are related to the quality of care. Objective: Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the relationship between social capital as aspect of organizational culture and the level of quality emphasis. Design: A cross-sectional multicenter study was conducted in German hospitals. Data of 959 nurses were collected in a standardized postal survey. Results: In logistic regression analysis three independent variables are significantly associated with quality emphasis: professional experience, social capital, and male gender. Social capital is the central predictor of quality emphasis explaining 27% of the variance in the model. Conclusion: Our results underline the importance of social capital for the development of quality emphasis among nursing teams in hospitals. Common values and trust are strongly associated with the quality emphasis and could be essential for the continuous quality improvement of care.