The Mediating Effect of Job Satisfaction in the Relationship Between Leadership and the Turnover Intention among Social Workers in Social Welfare Organizations

This study aims to examine the effects of leadership on turnover intention among social workers who have been employed for at least six months in a current social welfare organizations. It also seeks to verify the mediating effect of job satisfaction in the relationship between leadership and turnover intention. To this end, survey data from 281 social workers in Jeju region were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, mediated regression analysis, and the Sobel test. Both transactional leadership and transformational leadership were found to have a significant impact on turnover intention. Furthermore, job satisfaction was found to have a statistically significant mediating effect in the relationship between transactional leadership and turnover intention, as well as between transformational leadership and turnover intention. Based on these findings, practical strategies were suggested to improve social workers’job satisfaction and to minimize their turnover intention.