IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v31y2009i3p391-397.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Job satisfaction in a stable state child welfare workforce: Implications for staff retention

Author

Listed:
  • Strand, Virginia C.
  • Dore, Martha Morrison

Abstract

The findings of this study build on and extend previous research on factors that contribute to job satisfaction in public child welfare agencies. Because the study agency has stabilized its workforce, it provides a unique opportunity to examine other organizational and environmental factors that may make a more subtle, yet just as deleterious contribution to staff dissatisfaction. Based on survey responses from 927 respondents, five research questions were addressed: 1) How does job satisfaction compare to staff in other human service organizations nationally? 2. Are differences in staff characteristics related to job satisfaction? 3. Are there particular areas of job difficulty that predict job satisfaction? 4. Are there differences by job category in job satisfaction? 5. What staff or job-related factors predict job satisfaction overall? Study findings were consistent with others that have examined organizational dynamics, particularly role stressors, supervision, and performance recognition and rewards. Results indicate that length of employment, being a supervisor, and experiencing difficulties with working conditions, supervision, and the lack of external client resources predict the highest levels of job dissatisfaction. Implications for public child welfare organizations are discussed, including strategies for attending to those organizational factors that negatively affect employees' perceptions of organizational support.

Suggested Citation

  • Strand, Virginia C. & Dore, Martha Morrison, 2009. "Job satisfaction in a stable state child welfare workforce: Implications for staff retention," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 391-397, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:31:y:2009:i:3:p:391-397
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190-7409(08)00231-4
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Curry, Dale & McCarragher, Timothy & Dellmann-Jenkins, Mary, 2005. "Training, transfer, and turnover: Exploring the relationship among transfer of learning factors and staff retention in child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(8), pages 931-948, August.
    2. Smith, Brenda D., 2005. "Job retention in child welfare: Effects of perceived organizational support, supervisor support, and intrinsic job value," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 153-169, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Yong & Huang, Hui, 2017. "Validating the Job Satisfaction Survey in voluntary child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 1-8.
    2. Strand, Virginia C. & Spath, Robin & Bosco-Ruggiero, Stephanie, 2010. "So you have a stable child welfare workforce -- What's next?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 338-345, March.
    3. Augsberger, Astraea & Schudrich, Wendy & McGowan, Brenda G. & Auerbach, Charles, 2012. "Respect in the workplace: A mixed methods study of retention and turnover in the voluntary child welfare sector," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(7), pages 1222-1229.
    4. Zeitlin, Wendy & Chakravarty, Sreyashi & Lawrence, Catherine & DeCristofano, Angela, 2019. "Direct practice contact: Predicting frontline child welfare workers' time with clients," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 9-15.
    5. Li, Yong & Huang, Hui & Chen, Yi-Yi, 2020. "Organizational climate, job satisfaction, and turnover in voluntary child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    6. Scannapieco, Maria & Hegar, Rebecca L. & Connell-Carrick, Kelli, 2012. "Professionalization in public child welfare: Historical context and workplace outcomes for social workers and non-social workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(11), pages 2170-2178.
    7. Auerbach, Charles & McGowan, Brenda G. & Ausberger, Astraea & Strolin-Goltzman, Jessica & Schudrich, Wendy, 2010. "Differential factors influencing public and voluntary child welfare workers' intention to leave," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1396-1402, October.
    8. McCrae, Julie S. & Scannapieco, Maria & Obermann, Ann, 2015. "Retention and job satisfaction of child welfare supervisors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 171-176.
    9. Chung, Youngsoon & Choo, Hyekyung, 2019. "A structural path to job satisfaction, burnout, and intent to leave among child protection workers: A South Korean study," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 304-312.
    10. Radey, Melissa & Stanley, Lauren, 2018. "“Hands on” versus “empty”: Supervision experiences of frontline child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 128-136.
    11. Kruzich, Jean M. & Mienko, Joseph A. & Courtney, Mark E., 2014. "Individual and work group influences on turnover intention among public child welfare workers: The effects of work group psychological safety," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 20-27.
    12. Carpenter, John & Webb, Caroline M. & Bostock, Lisa, 2013. "The surprisingly weak evidence base for supervision: Findings from a systematic review of research in child welfare practice (2000–2012)," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 1843-1853.
    13. Burns, Desirée D. & Langenderfer-Magruder, Lisa & Yelick, Anna & Wilke, Dina J., 2023. "What else is there to say? Reflections of newly-hired child welfare workers by retention status," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    14. Lushin, Victor & Katz, Colleen C. & Julien-Chinn, Francie J. & Lalayants, Marina, 2023. "A burdened workforce: Exploring burnout, job satisfaction and turnover among child welfare caseworkers in the era of COVID-19," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    15. Claiborne, Nancy & Auerbach, Charles & Lawrence, Catherine & Schudrich, Wendy Zeitlin, 2013. "Organizational change: The role of climate and job satisfaction in child welfare workers' perception of readiness for change," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(12), pages 2013-2019.
    16. Clark, Sherrill J. & Smith, Richard J. & Uota, Kazumi, 2013. "Professional development opportunities as retention incentives in child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1687-1697.
    17. Kim, HaeJung & Hopkins, Karen M., 2017. "The quest for rural child welfare workers: How different are they from their urban counterparts in demographics, organizational climate, and work attitudes?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 291-297.
    18. Schudrich, Wendy Zeitlin & Liao, Aries & Lawrence, Catherine & Auerbach, Charles & Gomes, Anne-Marie & Fernandes, Gretta & McGowan, Brenda & Claiborne, Nancy, 2013. "Intention to leave in social workers and educators employed in voluntary child welfare agencies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 657-663.
    19. Auerbach, Charles & Zeitlin, Wendy & Augsberger, Astraea & Lawrence, Catherine K. & Claiborne, Nancy, 2016. "Societal factors impacting child welfare: Re-validating the Perceptions of Child Welfare Scale," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 65-71.
    20. Johnco, Carly & Salloum, Alison & Olson, Kayla R. & Edwards, LaTishia M., 2014. "Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives on Contributing Factors to Retention and Turnover: Recommendations for Improvement," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P3), pages 397-407.
    21. Lee, Joohee & Forster, Michael & Rehner, Tim, 2011. "The retention of public child welfare workers: The roles of professional organizational culture and coping strategies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 102-109, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Strand, Virginia C. & Spath, Robin & Bosco-Ruggiero, Stephanie, 2010. "So you have a stable child welfare workforce -- What's next?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 338-345, March.
    2. Kruzich, Jean M. & Mienko, Joseph A. & Courtney, Mark E., 2014. "Individual and work group influences on turnover intention among public child welfare workers: The effects of work group psychological safety," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 20-27.
    3. Clark, Sherrill J. & Smith, Richard J. & Uota, Kazumi, 2013. "Professional development opportunities as retention incentives in child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(10), pages 1687-1697.
    4. Yankeelov, Pamela A. & Barbee, Anita P. & Sullivan, Dana & Antle, Becky F., 2009. "Individual and organizational factors in job retention in Kentucky's child welfare agency," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 547-554, May.
    5. Radey, Melissa & Stanley, Lauren, 2018. "“Hands on” versus “empty”: Supervision experiences of frontline child welfare workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 128-136.
    6. Barbee, Anita P. & Antle, Becky, 2011. "Cost effectiveness of an integrated service delivery model as measured by worker retention," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 1624-1629, September.
    7. Lee, Joohee & Forster, Michael & Rehner, Tim, 2011. "The retention of public child welfare workers: The roles of professional organizational culture and coping strategies," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 102-109, January.
    8. Futris, Ted G. & Schramm, David G. & Richardson, Evin W. & Lee, Tae Kyoung, 2015. "The impact of organizational support on the transfer of learning to practice," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 36-43.
    9. McCrae, Julie S. & Scannapieco, Maria & Obermann, Ann, 2015. "Retention and job satisfaction of child welfare supervisors," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 171-176.
    10. Osborne, Cynthia & Huffman, Jennifer & Caldera, Selena & Lipton Galbraith, Anna, 2020. "The influence of field-based training on caseworker turnover," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    11. Las Heras, Mireia & Bosch, Maria José & Raes, Anneloes M.L., 2015. "Sequential mediation among family friendly culture and outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2366-2373.
    12. Chen, Yi-Yi & Park, Jisung & Park, Aely, 2012. "Existence, relatedness, or growth? Examining turnover intention of public child welfare caseworkers from a human needs approach," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 2088-2093.
    13. Johnco, Carly & Salloum, Alison & Olson, Kayla R. & Edwards, LaTishia M., 2014. "Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives on Contributing Factors to Retention and Turnover: Recommendations for Improvement," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(P3), pages 397-407.
    14. Mor Barak, Michalle E. & Levin, Amy & Nissly, Jan A. & Lane, Christianne J., 2006. "Why do they leave? Modeling child welfare workers' turnover intentions," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 548-577, May.
    15. Thompson, Ashleigh & Shockley, Carrie, 2013. "Developing youth workers: Career ladders for sector stability," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 447-452.
    16. McBeath, Bowen & Briggs, Harold E. & Aisenberg, Eugene, 2009. "The role of child welfare managers in promoting agency performance through experimentation," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 112-118, January.
    17. Shim, Miseung, 2010. "Factors influencing child welfare employee's turnover: Focusing on organizational culture and climate," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 847-856, June.
    18. Hwang, Jeongha & Hopkins, Karen M., 2015. "A structural equation model of the effects of diversity characteristics and inclusion on organizational outcomes in the child welfare workforce," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 44-52.
    19. King, Erin A., 2021. "Child welfare workers’ experiences of client-perpetrated violence: Implications for worker mental health," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    20. Preston, Mark S., 2018. "Does job control buffer work demands' detrimental impact on public child welfare case managers' affective well-being? Extending the nonlinear demand-linear control model," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 219-227.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:31:y:2009:i:3:p:391-397. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.