Organizational Leadership and Its Impact On Social Workers' Job Satisfaction: A National Study

ABSTRACT

This article reports the results of a national study focusing on leader behavior and job satisfaction of BSW and MSW social workers employed in social service agencies. A stratified, systematic, randomly selected sample of 2,500 social workers who are members of NASW in the United States was surveyed through the use of a mailed questionnaire. The final sample was composed of 833 practicing MSW and BSW social workers. A key finding is that organizational leadership impacts job satisfaction. Academic programs need to expand their curricula to address leadership development and offer separate courses on leadership to prepare students for organizational leadership roles.

KEYWORDS:

• Organizational leadership
• social work leadership
• social work job satisfaction