Transformational Leadership in the Social Work Context: The Importance of Leader Continuity and Co-Worker Support

Abstract

Social work leadership has attracted growing attention in both social work practice and research. As social service organisations have changed in a variety of ways during the last decades, knowledge of how leaders should act in these transformed organisations is crucial. However, few empirical studies have examined what kind of leadership these changed organisations benefit from and how the continuing organisational change might affect the impact leaders have. The present study aimed at exploring the effect of transformational leadership of first line managers in a social work setting. We used a randomised sample of 158 employees in a Swedish social service organisation, and examined the direct and indirect effect of transformational leadership on two important employee attitudes—commitment and role clarity. The results demonstrate the contribution of transformational leadership in creating a workplace where employees are committed and know what their assignment is. Interaction effects of leader continuity and co-worker support indicate the need for some stability in the organisation in order to increase the positive influence transformational leaders have on employees. This study has implications for leadership training in social work and is a contribution to the co-operative knowledge development of leadership in social service organisations.

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