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The effects of external supervision on social workers’ engagement and perceived self‐efficacy: A quasi‐experimental study
Author(s) -
Põder Kaire,
Merkuljeva Tiina
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of training and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.558
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1468-2419
pISSN - 1360-3736
DOI - 10.1111/ijtd.12213
Subject(s) - work engagement , structural equation modeling , psychology , construct (python library) , test (biology) , social psychology , self efficacy , control (management) , empirical research , work (physics) , applied psychology , computer science , mechanical engineering , epistemology , machine learning , artificial intelligence , engineering , programming language , biology , paleontology , philosophy
External supervision is an expanding practice among social workers noted by many authors. However, the empirical evidence of its impact on work efficiency is mixed at best. In the current study, we empirically test the effect of external supervision on social workers’ work engagement and perceived self‐efficacy. Our treatment consists of five external supervision sessions. The survey instrument is designed to test the theoretical premises, allowing us to collect before and after data from the treatment and control group and construct a structural equation model for latent constructs such as engagement and self‐efficacy. Our sample consists of 73 social workers. We estimate treatment effects using differences‐in‐differences technique. After controlling for observable self‐selection, we show that external supervision has a weak positive effect on engagement but no effect on self‐efficacy. The mechanism—whether the content and length of the treatment are important—is under discussion. A weak positive effect of supervision on engagement is present only in the case of those who continued treatment in all five sessions.