Veterinary team relational coordination is associated with healthier perception of workplace psychological climate, increased job satisfaction, and reduced intention to leave.

Objective: To describe veterinary professionals' perceptions of relational coordination (RC) within their veterinary hospital and examine associations with perceived workplace psychological climate, job satisfaction, and intention to leave.

Methods: All 4,676 employees working in 136 corporate-owned veterinary hospitals were invited to respond to an online survey. Measures included employees' perceptions regarding RC, workplace psychological climate, job satisfaction, and intention to leave their hospital. Ordinal logistic regressions examined associations between perceived RC and each of the aforementioned variables.

Results: 578 employees from 114 veterinary hospitals participated. Participants perceived moderate RC with team members (mean, 3.91 out of 5), perceived their workplace psychological climate to be fair (mean, 3.23 out of 7), reported being satisfied with their job (mean, 70.42 out of 100), and did not intend to leave their hospital (mean, 2.26 out of 5). After controlling for hospital setting, stronger perceptions of RC were significantly associated with greater odds of rating workplace psychological climate at a more favorable level (OR, 5.78; 95% CI, 4.16 to 8.04) and rating job satisfaction at a higher level (OR, 5.12; 95% CI, 3.60 to 7.29), with lower odds of rating intention to leave their current hospital at a higher level (OR, 0.30; 95% CI, 0.23 to 0.39).

Conclusions: On average, employees reported moderately positive perceptions of each measure. Perceived RC within veterinary teams was associated with a healthier perception of workplace psychological climate, increased job satisfaction, and reduced intention to leave.

Clinical relevance: Findings highlight the important role that RC may have for veterinary practices, specifically in fostering employees' perceptions of their workplace psychological climate, enhancing job satisfaction, and reducing employee attrition.