Article
Social Workers’ Perceptions of Job Satisfaction, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and Organizational Leadership
Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care
(2018)
Abstract
To address job satisfaction, and therefore employment retention, of hospice social workers, this study examined how relationships with other members of the interdisciplinary hospice team and perceptions of hospice leadership may be associated with job satisfaction of hospice social workers. The sample of 203 hospice social workers was recruited by e-mailing invitations to hospice social workers identified by hospice directors in three states, use of online social media sites accessed by hospice social workers, and snowball sampling. Study measures included professional experience, hospice characteristics, interdisciplinary collaboration, perception of servant leadership, and intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. Variables significant in the model for intrinsic satisfaction were perception of servant leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, and feeling valued by the hospice physician. Variables significant in the model for extrinsic satisfaction were percep- tion of servant leadership, interdisciplinary collaboration, feeling valued by the hospice physician, and number of social workers at the hospice. Interdisciplinary collaboration was more important for intrinsic job satisfaction and leadership style was more important for extrinsic job satisfaction. Profit status of the hospice, experience of the social worker, caseload size, and other variables were not significant in either model. These results support previous findings that leadership style of the hospice director and relationships with hospice colleagues are important for hospice social workers’ job satisfaction. Such low- cost modifications to the hospice work environment, albeit not simple, may improve job satisfaction of hospice social workers.
Keywords
- Hospice; interdisciplinary collaboration; job satisfaction; leadership style; profit status; social work
Disciplines
Publication Date
Winter February 28, 2018
DOI
10.1080/15524256.2018.1437590
Citation Information
Suzanne Marmo and Cathy Berkman. "Social Workers’ Perceptions of Job Satisfaction, Interdisciplinary Collaboration, and Organizational Leadership" Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life & Palliative Care Vol. 14 Iss. 1 (2018) p. 8 - 27 ISSN: 1552-4264 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/suzanne-marmo-roman/5/