Job Performance of Social Workers - Literature Review
Research literature focusing exclusively on the job performance of social workers is to date extremely sparse. Hardly any studies have looked at or attempted to measure the performance on the job of social workers. Most studies and articles that can be related to job performance of social workers investigate burnout syndrome, stress, job satisfaction, and job turnover (Adams, Boscarino, & Figley, 2006; Boston, 2008; Duraisingam, Pidd, & Roche, 2009; Judge, Thoresen, Bono, & Patton, 2001; Siefert, Jayaratne, & Chess, 1991; Tham, 2007).
The underlying assumptions of these studies is that job dissatisfaction and burnout are prevalent problems in the field of social work. Moreover, they are major factors affecting the job performance of social workers. Job dissatisfaction in social workers can have a number of causes. Stress, lack of organizational and peer support, insufficient pay, and little decision-making power have been identified as some of the reasons for job dissatisfaction in social workers (Acker, 1997; EVANS et al., 2006; Ganster, Fusilier, & Mayes, 1986; Um & Harrison, 1998).
As Maaslach has pointed out (1982, 2003) burn-out is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors in one's work environment. She identifies three distinct dimensions of burnout, namely "exhaustion, cynicism, and sense of inefficacy" (Maslach, 2003, 189). Significantly, neither Maaslach's work, nor the studies cited above effectively look at whether or not job performance does indeed suffer or, if poor job performance is only perceived of as such by social workers suffering from burn-out and job dissatisfaction.
However, high turnover rates in the caring professions, and especially in social work, make job dissatisfaction and burn-out serious issues that need to be addressed to maintain an overall satisfactory level of organizational p...