More Engaged, Less Willing to Change: Comparing Organizational Social Context Among Homeless Service Providers to Children's Mental Health Providers

Background and purpose: Implementing innovations in social work, such as evidence based practices and new technologies, requires significant organizational changes. One factor shown to influence this process is organizational context (Carillio, 2005; Sosin, 2001). As of yet, no research has compared organizational context across service sectors to determine how the process might work differently in these settings. The current study seeks to understand differences in organizational social context by: 1) comparing children's mental health and homeless services; and 2) examining how organizational social context differs according to individual characteristics.

Methods: Staff members (n = 142, 76% female) at homeless service provider organizations (n=26) in two states completed the Organizational Social Context (OSC) Questionnaire, a self-report, 100-item survey asking questions about three work constructs: culture, climate, and work attitudes. Three sub-constructs formed culture (proficiency, rigidity, and resistance) and climate (engagement, functionality, and proficiency). Demographic data including gender, age, education, academic background, and years of experience were asked at the end of the OSC. Individual responses, excluding the demographic questions, were aggregated to the organizational level to create 26 organizational profiles. Staff members' individual demographic data and the profiles were analyzed using a multi-level model in HLM 6 to determine if individual characteristics differed according to organizational social context. The homeless service organizational profiles were then compared to a normative national sample of children's mental health provider's organizational profile using T-scores (Glisson et al., 2008). Finally, individual demographic data were compared between the children's mental health and homeless service providers.

Results: The multi-level model did not show that organizational social context differed significantly according to staff members' characteristics. The homeless service providers reported higher average levels of organizational proficiency (T-score = 59.19), engagement (62.68), rigidity (T-score = 58.09), and resistance (T-score = 63.38) compared to the average children's mental health provider. They reported similar levels of stress (T-score = 50.78) and functionality (T-score = 52.1), however. A comparison of demographics found that children's mental health providers employed more staff members with masters' degrees (67.4% vs. 14.8%) and with social work academic training (40.9% vs. 17.4%).

Conclusions and implications: The findings provide new information for policy makers and administrators who are under increasing pressure to implement innovations in social work. Higher levels of rigidity and resistance in homeless service providers may impede this process. Lack of social work academic training may explain some of the differences. The study's findings demonstrate a need to increase funding in homeless services for training and educational opportunities. Future research should consider how the organizational social context and its interaction with individual characteristics affect implementation of innovations across service sectors.