What motivates highly trained child welfare professionals to stay or leave?

Lena Boraggina-Ballard, J. Sobeck and D. Honig

Children and Youth Services Review, 2021, vol. 124, issue C

Abstract: This mixed-methods study used an integrated approach to investigate the drivers that impact the transition from student to child welfare professional and factors that motivated a highly trained cohort of child welfare professionals to stay or leave the child welfare workforce (post one–year employment). The concept of transfer of learning and self-determination theory guided the analysis of emergent themes and quantitative data, where appropriate. Results suggest it is essential that child welfare agencies cultivate an organizational culture and climate of support and that some of the most intrinsically motivated child welfare workers are likely to leave.

Keywords: Child welfare; Workforce retention; Mixed methods; Work preference inventory; Self-determination theory; Transfer of learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740921000372
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:124:y:2021:i:c:s0190740921000372

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.105958

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().