Date of Conferral

9-9-2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Hedy Dexter

Abstract

The declining retention rate among U.S. child welfare workers is a significant concern. Research suggested that as millennials enter the workforce, adopting leadership styles that best meet the needs of each generation and/or facilitate congruence between organizational goals and the distinct work values of both the younger and older generations will help increase retention. Specifically, supervisors needed to identify a leadership style that best satisfied the needs of millennials who are stereotypically less loyal to organizations and exhibit higher job mobility than older generations. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the extent to which generational cohort moderated the relationship between leadership style, job satisfaction, and intent to leave among child welfare workers. Person-organization fit theory described how workers who perceive a strong fit between themselves and their organization would be more likely to be satisfied and be less likely to leave the organization. Online surveys were administered via SurveyMonkey to 196 workers between the ages of 21-75 who had worked for a private child welfare agency for two years or less. No moderating effects were found. Despite this, the present study did have three major findings: (a) younger generations are more likely to intend to leave their current agency; (b) both leadership styles lead to increased job satisfaction; and (c) transformational, but not transactional, leadership was associated with less intent to leave. Findings from the study may effect positive social change by informing child welfare agencies of leadership styles with the potential to retain workers, especially millennials who will be the dominant generation in the child welfare workforce by 2025.

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