From Interaction to Adoption: A Moderated Mediation Model of Emotional Authenticity and Psychological Safety in Nursing Services

This study is grounded in Service-Dominant Logic (SDL) and Service Encounter Theory (SET) and develops a psychological mechanism model to examine how the quality of nursing interactions shapes patients’ intentions to adopt health education. Based on a sample of 463 patients, the study applies Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and hierarchical regression analysis to test the mediating effect of psychological safety and the moderating effect of perceived emotional authenticity. The results reveal that interaction quality positively influences patients’ adoption intentions both directly and indirectly through psychological safety. Moreover, perceived emotional authenticity amplifies the positive effect of interaction quality on psychological safety. An exploratory analysis further reveals a potential direct effect of emotional authenticity on adoption intention, although this was not explicitly hypothesized. A nonlinear moderation pattern is also observed, suggesting that excessively high levels of perceived authenticity may cause perceptual saturation, wherein further increases produce diminishing psychological benefits. Theoretically, this study expands the application of SDL and SET within high emotional labor service contexts, thereby enriching the theoretical understanding of emotional resources and psychological safety in service interactions. Practically, it provides actionable implications for optimizing nursing strategies and increasing patient receptivity to health education.