The Effect of Workload and Supervision on Turnover Intention Among Child Welfare Workers: Focusing on the Mediating Effects of Their Burnout and Job Satisfaction

Background and Purpose:  Children in out-of-home care need a secure psychological bond with significant others such as child welfare workers. But, the current high turnover of child welfare workers has deteriorated it further. Therefore, various endeavors to create the conditions likely to enhance retention of child welfare workers have to be pursued. The present study aimed to examine the effects of workload and supervision among child welfare workers in Korean Group Homes (KGHs) on their turnover intention. In specific, the study set up an integrative model with the perceived workload and supervision of the child welfare workers as independent variable, their perceived burnout and job satisfaction as mediators, and their turnover intention as a dependent variable. Both job demands-resources (JD-R) model and social exchange theory provided a theoretical framework for the study.

Methods:  The data of the study was obtained from 286 child welfare workers from 169 KGHs across the country and used for final data analysis. Structural equation modeling was used to test the conceptual model. In the study, several constructs were measured using several standardized reliable measures such as workload (alpha=.868), supervision (alpha=.882), burnout (alpha=.855), job satisfaction (alpha=.825), and turnover intention (alpha=.808). Bias-corrected (BC) bootstrap method was used to determine whether the indirect of the prediction on the dependent variable is significant or not. FIML (full information maximum likelihood) was employed to handle missing data in Mpus 7.2.

Results:  The finding of the SEM analyses supported the proposed conceptual model. There were significant and positive relationships between workload and burnout(β= .418, p< .001) and between burnout and turnover intention(β= .213, p< .001). Also, there were significant and positive relationships between supervision and job satisfaction(β= .177, p< .05), but negative relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention(β= -.418, p< .001). Tests of indirect effects showed that the perceived levels of burnout among child welfare workers mediated the relationship between their perceived workload and turnover intention (β= .128, p= .039). In addition, it was found that the effects of perception of supervision among child welfare workers on their turnover intention were mediated by their levels of job satisfaction (β= -.262, p= .011). The parsimonious model fit the data well (chi-square= 751.111, df=309, p=.000, RMSEA=0.076⟨.069-.083⟩, CFI=0.943, TLI=0.934). The results indicated that child welfare workers’ workload indirectly determined their turnover intention by influencing their levels of burnout. On the other hand, it was also found that child welfare workers’ perceived supervision had a significant effect on their turnover intention via a key role of job satisfaction.

Conclusion and Implications: Several significant pathways in the model were identified. In specific, the perception of burnout and job satisfaction among child welfare workers played a differential role in linking workload and supervision to their turnover intention. To improve their retention, managers must build a quality supervision system through reducing burnout and enhancing job satisfaction to the broader organizations.