How nurses who are sensation seekers justify their unsafe behaviors

• Rewards increased risk-taking propensities among nurses.
• Sensation seekers tended to blame their unsafe behaviors on external factors.
• Openness to experience associated with external justification of risk.
• Increased risk justification led to increased blame externalization.

Sensation seeking, risk-taking propensity and openness to experience are known predictors of unsafe behaviors. The aim of this study is to determine if individuals with these characteristics justify their unsafe behaviors by attributing them to external factors such as a lack of organizational support. We explore the interaction between sensation seeking and risk-taking propensity, explain how nurses justify their unsafe work practices, and investigate the effect of openness on directing sensation seekers' behavior. In this cross-sectional study, 108 nurses completed questionnaires and an objective task measuring risk-taking propensity. Conditional direct effect analysis showed that nurses with sensation-seeking characteristics and high level of risk-taking propensity were likely to perceive external factors as accounting for their unsafe behaviors. Furthermore, sensation seeking re-expressed as openness to experience predicted increased blame externalization. Additionally, nurses with high risk-taking propensity, leading to a focus on rewards and learning experiences, attributed unsafe work practices to external factors.