The relationship between leadership style and coping style on job stress and job satisfaction among social workers in health care

grantor: University of TorontoIn a period of health care reform and organizational restructuring, social workers are confronted with change and uncertainty in their practice. The confident social worker is one who is able to cope and adapt to change; who is able to be creative and innovative, who can articulate a vision and translate it into action; and who is a leader in service delivery, both within the hospital and the community. Leadership appears to be an important factor in providing vision and skills that guide the efforts of social work into the next century. The present study examined the relationships between various job-related variables among social workers in health care. Using a survey design, 187 social workers completed a questionnaire measuring their perceptions of job satisfaction, job stress, upward influence, coping style, and dimensions of their manager's leadership style. Moderate to strong positive correlations were found between measures of leadership style and scores on the Job Satisfaction Scale and Job Stress Survey. No gender differences were found on job stress variables. Moreover, no differences were found between BSW and MSW trained social workers in their perceptions of job stress. Regression analysis indicated that leadership style variables were the most significant factors in explaining the variance in job satisfaction. However, for job stress, seeking social support was the-most significant coping style factorPh.D