Do Social Workers Lead Differently? Examining Associations with Leadership Style and Organizational Factors.

What training leaders need to successfully shepherd high quality human service delivery remains less understood. This study aims to evaluate associations between social work training, leadership style, and organizational factors. Participants included leaders (N=49) and employees (N=224) working in 10 behavioral health organizations who completed a survey. Hierarchical linear models were used to analyze multilevel associations. Analyses indicated that leaders with social work training were rated higher in transformational leadership and organizational factors (e.g., lesser stress) on average within both samples. Findings begin an empirical argument for the value of social work leaders for the success of human service organizations.