Role Conflict and Turnover Intention among Chinese Social Workers: The Roles of Emotional Exhaustion and Job Autonomy

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the association between role conflict and turnover intention, as well as mediating role of emotional exhaustion and moderating effects of job autonomy on turnover intention among social workers in mainland China. Data from the China Social Work Longitudinal Study 2019 (n = 5,611) is included in the final analyses, and structural equation modeling is adopted to confirm the factor structure. The empirical results indicate that role conflict is positively associated with turnover intention, whereas emotional exhaustion plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between role conflict and turnover intention. In addition, job autonomy plays a negative moderating role in the first half of the path of role conflict on turnover intention. Suggestions and implications for practice are explored. Since social workers are viewed as critical agents of change in the area of social service provision, findings support the need for and occupational environment that promotes job autonomy and prevents burnout. Future studies are suggested to examine how turnover intention is formulated and developed in organizational contexts of social work and other human helping professions and to design relevant interventions and programs for this population.

Keywords:

• China
• emotional exhaustion
• job autonomy
• role conflict
• social worker
• turnover intention

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Research Ethics Committee of the authors’ affiliated university and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Consent form

All participants were well informed about the objectives of the research and signed a consent form before joining the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data-set used for this manuscript belongs to the CSWLS 2019.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Youth Innovative Talent Project of Guangdong Province [No. 2020WQNCX107]. The study sponsor had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication.