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Background: Child welfare agencies across the United States continue to face significant workforce challenges, particularly low job satisfaction and high turnover rates Nationally, turnover among child welfare workers averages approximately 30%, with even higher rates among those in training. This instability produces serious consequences, including disrupted services for children and families, increased workloads for remaining staff, and substantial financial costs for organizations.
Research consistently demonstrates that job satisfaction is a strong predictor of employee retention and overall well-being. Job satisfaction is influenced by multiple factors, including supervisory support, self-efficacy, and workplace conditions. One promising factor is authentic leadership, a leadership style grounded in self-awareness, relational transparency, internalized moral perspective, and balanced processing. Authentic leadership aligns closely with core social work values such as integrity and the importance of human relationships.
Empirical evidence indicates that authentic leadership is positively associated with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and employee well-being, while also reducing turnover intentions. Furthermore, authenticity is not limited to leaders; authentic behavior among employees—defined as alignment between personal values and actions—may similarly influence job satisfaction and retention outcomes.
Purpose and Methods: This study extends the existing literature by examining the relationship among authentic behavior, job satisfaction, and turnover intention among child welfare caseworkers in Pennsylvania. It utilizes a statewide, cross-sectional workforce survey dataset originally collected by Kim et al. (2024). The secondary dataset includes 688 caseworkers from both public and private agencies, comprising 511 public-sector workers and 177 private-sector workers.
Results: The Pearson correlation test revealed a significant positive relationship between authentic behaviors and job satisfaction (r = .145, p < .001), indicating that child welfare workers who reported a higher level of authentic behaviors were associated with higher job satisfaction. A negative correlation was found between job satisfaction and turnover intent (r = -.413, p < .001), suggesting that child welfare workers who are satisfied in their positions are less likely to consider leaving. Additionally, a significant negative relationship was found between authentic behaviors and turnover intent (r = -.095, p < .001), indicating that child welfare workers with higher levels of authentic behaviors are less likely to consider leaving their job.
Implications and conclusion: The findings showed that child welfare workers with higher levels of authentic behaviors were more satisfied in their jobs and less likely to intend to leave. At the presentation, We will present the findings and the core concepts of authentic behavior. We will also review practical implications for the organization and leaders. If organizations want people to stay, they need to create psychologically safe spaces where people do not have to pretend.