(WITHDRAWN) Job Demands, Job Resources, and Turnover Intention Among Social Workers in South Korea: The Mediating Effects of Emotional Exhaustion and Depersonalization

Background and Purpose. High turnover among social workers, ranging between 42 – 61%, has been one of major concerns in South Korea, and addressing high turnover is significant in that social workers’ turnover pose great challenges to multiple stakeholders including clients and their families who receive services, social work organizations, and social workers themselves. Although job demands, job resources, and burnout have been identified as one of the major antecedents of turnover and turnover intentions in previous research, there is relatively less empirical evidence on the mechanisms among these antecedents. Based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, which posits that job demands and resources are uniquely associated with two dimensions of burnout (i.e., emotional exhaustion and depersonalization), the present study examined the effects of job demands and resources (e.g., social support in the workplace) on turnover intention. Particular focus was placed on the mechanisms through which job demands and resources influence turnover intention by examining two burnout components as potential mediators. We hypothesized that job demands would be positively associated with turnover intention, whereas job resources would be negatively associated with turnover intention. We also hypothesized that two components of burnout–emotional exhaustion and depersonalization–would mediate the effects of job demands and resources on turnover intention and that the mechanisms would be different.

Methods. Using data from surveys with licensed social workers from 41 social service agencies in three metropolitan areas of South Korea (N = 316) conducted in 2018, the study examined indirect effects of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization on the relationship between job demand and turnover intention and between job resources and turnover intention separately. Two serial multiple mediation analyses were performed using the SPSS macro PROCESS (version 2.16.3), and the bootstrap method was used to test the statistical significance of total and specific indirect effects.

Results. Findings of indirect effects of job demands on turnover intention through emotional exhaustion and depersonalization indicated that emotional exhaustion was a significant mediator, whereas depersonalization was not. However, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization sequentially mediated the relationship between job demands and turnover intention. Findings of indirect effects of job resources on turnover intention through emotional exhaustion and depersonalization showed that both emotional and depersonalization were significant mediators. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization sequentially mediated the relationship between job resource and turnover intention.

Conclusions and Implications. By identifying mechanisms through which job demands and resources affect turnover intention via emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, findings of the present study provide implications for promoting varied efforts to reduce burnout and turnover rate among social workers in South Korea.