The effect of felt trust from patients among nurses on attitudes towards nursing service delivery

Aims To examine how felt trust motivates nurses to desire to deliver better nursing services and how perspective taking makes nurses feel trusted by their patients. By introducing the concept of prosocial motivation into nursing research, this study further explored a boundary condition that influences the positive relationship between felt trust from patients and attitudes towards nursing service delivery. Design This study used a cross‐sectional and survey design. Method This study was conducted among 339 nurses on medical teams sent to support Hubei, China, during the COVID‐19 pandemic in April 2020. Results The results indicate that felt trust from patients mediated the positive relationship between perspective taking and attitudes towards nursing service delivery. In addition, prosocial motivation moderated the relationship between felt trust from patients and attitudes towards nursing service delivery, such that the relationship was stronger when prosocial motivation was high (vs. low). Prosocial motivation also moderated the indirect effects of perspective taking on attitudes towards nursing service delivery via felt trust from patients. Conclusion This study shows that despite the challenges posed by COVID‐19, nurses who experience a high level of trust from patients are still eager to deliver high‐quality nursing services, and this finding is especially salient among those with high prosocial motivation. Impact This study introduces felt trust from patients as a new motivational mechanism that can induce nurses’ willingness to deliver better nursing services. We suggest that nurses and nurse leaders should be aware of the significance of the trust relationship between nurses and patients. Nurses need to be trained to take patients’ perspectives in the interaction process, which can make them feel trusted by patients and can consequently be motivated to deliver better nursing services.