Organizational climate, job satisfaction, and turnover in voluntary child welfare workers

Abstract

Turnover among the child welfare workforce has been linked to workforce demographics, individual-level work attitudes, and organizational conditions. It is relatively understudied how organizational and individual factors may be related to each other in predicting turnover among the voluntary (i.e., private, non-profit) child welfare workforce. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the indirect effects of organizational climate on turnover through voluntary child welfare workers’ job satisfaction. The sample consisted of 849 direct care and clinical workers in 13 voluntary agencies under contract with the public child welfare system in a northeastern state in the United States. Paper-and-pencil surveys were sent out to the agencies. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between organizational climate, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. To examine the indirect effects of interest, bias-corrected and accelerated bootstrap confidence intervals based on 20,000 replications were obtained. Results suggested that the effect of organizational climate on intent to leave the agency was fully mediated by job satisfaction (β = -0.16, SE = 0.09, 95% CI = [−0.342, −0.002]), while its effect on intent to stay in child welfare was partially mediated (β = 0.15, SE = 0.06, 95% CI = [0.024, 0.280]). Voluntary child welfare agencies should consider redirecting their resources and focus on how their efforts into organizational changes may impact workers’ job satisfaction in pay, benefits, and promotion opportunities. Given that job satisfaction has a more immediate effect on turnover, it is worth investing in programs specifically designed to enhance job satisfaction. Limitations of our study and directions for future research are discussed.