Motivation and Field Engagement of Master Social Work Students in China: The Roles of Supervision Quality and Inter-Organizational Relationship

Background/Objectives: Research has consistently shown students’ motivation greatly impacts their learning engagement and learning outcomes. Based on Self-determination theory, student engagement partially or fully mediates and explains the effect of motivation to outcomes. In the field of social work education, some studies reveal the relationships between students’ motivation and learning outcomes, while other studies tap into the relationship of engagement and learning outcomes. However, limited studies focus on the relationship between motivation and engagement. The first objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between Chinese Master Social of Work (MSW) students’ motivation during their practica and their field engagement including behavioral and agentic engagements. The second objective is to test the roles of supervision quality and inter-organizational relationship in the relationship between motivation and engagement.

Methods: Data was collected via a cross-sectional method. On-line questionnaires were administered in all 61 MSW programs in Mainland China and all full-time MSW students who would graduate in 2015 were invited to participate in the survey. Structural equation modeling was used to unravel the mechanism among the key latent variables. A two-step method was utilized with measurement model and structural model. First, confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the measurement model. Second, based on Self-determination theory, a structural model was built to examine the direct and indirect effects of students’ motivation on their engagement as well as the mediating effect of supervision quality. Furthermore, the moderation effect of the inter-organizational relationship between university and agency was also examined.

Results: 736 MSW students completed the questionnaires without any missing data (76.5% female, 65.3% with BSW degree, and 73.8% from families of annual household income below USD16, 200). 52 MSW programs (comprising 1564 MSW students who will graduate in 2015) in Mainland China were covered (85.2%). Response rate is 47.6%.

Fit indexes of the measurement model showed adequate model fit (CFI =.930; RMSEA =.052) with three latent variables: motivation, supervision quality, and second-order field engagement including behavioral and agentic factors (explaining 88% and 77% of the variance, respectively). The results showed the direct effect of students’ motivation on their field engagement during practica in Mainland China. Supervision quality had a partial mediation effect on the relationship between motivation and field engagement of MSW students. In addition, the positive effect of motivation on students' engagement is more than twice as strong for the social work programs with relationships with the agencies for placement (Beta = .48***) than those programs without those relationships (Beta = . 19***). The structural model fit is good (CFI = .927; RMSEA = .031).

Conclusion/implication: Students’ motivation has unique direct effect on their behavioral and agentic engagements, enriching our theoretical understanding of social work students’ field experiences through self-determination and engagement perspectives. The findings also highlighted the mediation effect of supervision quality and the moderation effect of inter-organizational relationship, supporting the “field supervision-as-influencer” and the “interrelationship-as-facilitator” hypotheses in understanding the determination of social work students’ field learning engagement in Mainland China.