Collective psychological ownership and turnover intention among Chinese social workers: A double-mediator model of depressive symptoms and job satisfaction

Within the global professionalisation of social work, high turnover rates among practitioners have emerged as a core bottleneck constraining sectoral development. The present study investigates the relationship between collective psychological ownership and social workers’ turnover intentions, examining its underlying mechanisms. Utilising the China Social Work Longitudinal Study 2019 (N = 5438), findings demonstrate that collective psychological ownership significantly and negatively predicts turnover intentions. Depressive symptoms and job satisfaction exert a double-mediating effect between collective ownership and turnover intentions. Consequently, collective psychological ownership functions not only as a direct protective factor in stabilising the social work workforce but also as a deep-seated resource that restores individuals’ psychological health foundations and optimising professional cognitive evaluations. Theoretically, the study shifts the focus from individualistic self-care to collective agency, framing workforce stability as a structural safeguard for social justice and service users’ rights. By providing empirical evidence from a state-led expansion context, this study offers a vital theoretical foundation for decolonising social work knowledge and informs retention strategies in both collectivist and austerity-impacted welfare systems.