Abstract: How Leadership Approaches Enhance the Influence of Transformational Leaders on the Implementation of Evidence-Based and Culturally Responsive Health Care Practices (Society for Social Work and Research 21st Annual Conference - Ensure Healthy Development for all Youth)

Schedule:

Saturday, January 14, 2017: 10:15 AM

Balconies K (New Orleans Marriott)

* noted as presenting author

Erick Guerrero, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Karissa Fenwick, MSW, Doctoral Candidate, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Yinfei Kong, MSc, Research Associate, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA

Gregory Aarons, PhD, Professor, University of California, San Diego, San Diego, CA 92123, CA

Background: Leadership priorities have emerged as an important topic in relation to the role of leaders in the implementation of innovation in organizations. We propose that prioritization of implementation of specific innovative practices reflects how transformational leadership affects employee attitudes toward and organizational implementation of such practices. We developed a mediation model of the leadership processes linking perceptions of leader prioritization of implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) and culturally competent practices and the delivery of these practices.

Methods: In 2013, we collected multilevel data from 320 employees embedded in 110 treatment programs in one of the largest addiction health services systems in the United States. Confirmatory factor analysis showed adequate fit statistics for our measures of implementation prioritization of EBPs and culturally competent practices. We rely on multilevel path analysis regressions to examine the indirect relationship between transformational leadership and implementation of EBPs and culturally competent practices.

Results: We found an indirect effect between transformational leadership and attitudes toward EBPs (B = .090, p < .01) through implementation leadership prioritization. The indirect relationship between transformational leadership and delivery of contingency management treatment (an EBP) was significant only at p <.09 (B = .006, p < .09). We also found an indirect effect between transformational leadership and culturally competent knowledge (B = .006, p < .004), services (B = .019, p < .001), and personnel practices (B = .014, p < .005) through implementation prioritization.

Conclusions. The current study highlights the importance of leader priorities in maximizing the influence of transformational leadership on employee attitudes toward innovative practices and implementation of such practices in their program. This study provides important theoretical contributions to the literature regarding the importance of leader prioritization in enhancing the influence of transformational leadership on implementation outcomes.