Predictors of political participation of U.S. social workers: the mediating effect of confidence

What factors are associated with social workers’ political participation, and how does political confidence mediate those relationships? To answer this question, data were collected in 2020 through an original online survey of members of the U.S.-based National Association of Social Workers (NASW). Informed by self-efficacy theory, researchers conducted a structural equation modeling (SEM) path model with political participation as the outcome variable, and political confidence as a mediating variable. Exogenous variables included: one’s self-reported political orientation, belief that social work has a political mandate, gender, and knowledge about how to effectively participate in politics. Results indicate that high political confidence is associated with political participation. Similarly, the belief that ‘the social work profession has a political mandate’ is positively related to political participation, both directly and indirectly through its positive association with confidence. This study suggests that political knowledge building in curriculum and programming, while necessary, does not sufficiently influence political participation. Instead, to support a politically engaged social work profession, social work educators and professional bodies ought to couple content about political knowledge with political practice in ways that realistically increase students’ political confidence and commitment to the idea that social workers are mandated to engage in politics.