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Motivating the unemployed: A full‐range model of motivational strategies that caseworkers use to activate clients
Author(s) -
Grandia Jolien,
La Grouw Yvonne M.,
Kruyen Peter M.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12540
Subject(s) - transformational leadership , transactional leadership , front line , perspective (graphical) , welfare , qualitative research , psychology , public relations , social psychology , business , sociology , political science , computer science , social science , artificial intelligence , law
Abstract Governments use activation policies to stimulate unemployed citizens in finding work. Caseworkers are, as front‐line workers, responsible for concrete activation trajectories based on these activation policies. Little is known about how caseworkers try to get clients to participate in these activation trajectories. In a qualitative, inductive study (consisting of observations and reflective interviews) in two welfare agencies, we identified 10 motivational strategies that caseworkers employed. The full‐range leadership model appeared to be an appropriate perspective to understand, systematize, and reflect on these strategies, in particular as our analyses show that these motivational strategies can be placed on a continuum ranging from laissez‐faire to transactional and transformational strategies. We found that caseworkers matched their motivational strategy to the situation and client but preferred transformational strategies. Our findings implicate chances but also challenges for activation in practice and literature on front‐line workers.