The purpose of this study was to make a contribution to the settlement of case management performance in more professional and systematic methods of social welfare practice in its field. For that purpose, the study conducted empirical analysis with th...
The purpose of this study was to make a contribution to the settlement of case management performance in more professional and systematic methods of social welfare practice in its field. For that purpose, the study conducted empirical analysis with the personal characteristics of case managers(self-efficacy and professionalism) as independent variables, job motivation(intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) as a mediating variable, institutional characteristics(institutional supports, networks, and job guidelines) as moderating variables, and case management performance as a dependent variable. The study thus identified a mechanism to influence case management performance by checking the mediating effects of job motivation and the moderating effects of institutional characteristics as well as the effects of case managers' personal characteristics on their case management performance.
The subjects include social workers in charge of case management at social welfare facilities around Gwangju Metropolitan City. A self-administered survey was conducted with them based on a structured questionnaire. Total 302 questionnaires were distributed to them on May 6 ~ 27, 2016, and 244 were returned and 235 were used in final analysis. Collected data were put to the t-test, ANOVA, correlation analysis, and regression analysis with the PASW Statistics 18 program. The findings were as follows:
First, self-efficacy and professionalism, the personal characteristics of case managers, had significant positive(+) effects on their case management performance.
Second, the study analyzed the mediating effects of job motivation and found that intrinsic motivation had mediating effects on relations between the self-efficacy and professionalism of case managers and their case management performance, whereas extrinsic motivation had no mediating effects between them.
Third, the study also analyzed the moderating effects of institutional characteristics and found that institutional supports had moderating effects only on relations between self-efficacy and case management performance, between self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation, between professionalism and intrinsic motivation, between professionalism and extrinsic motivation, and between extrinsic motivation and case management performance. Networks had moderating effects only on relations between self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation, between professionalism and intrinsic motivation, and between extrinsic motivation and case management performance. Job guidelines had moderating effects only on relations between self-efficacy and case management performance, between self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation, and between extrinsic motivation and case management performance.
Finally, the study analyzed the effects of institutional environments and case managers' personal backgrounds on case management performance and found that such institutional environments as types of institution, organization of case management team, preparation of job manual, and number of case meetings had impacts on case management performance. As for the personal backgrounds of case managers, the grades of social worker qualification and experiences with case management education had impacts on case management performance.
Based on those findings, the study discussed the following implications: as for theoretical implications, it first empirically examined the level of case management performance in various areas of social welfare practice; secondly, it demonstrated once again that the personal characteristics of case managers were important elements in efficient case management performance; and finally, it verified the mediating effects of job motivation and the moderating effects of institutional characteristics on relations between the personal characteristics and case management performance of case managers. As for practical implications, it first raised a need for the standardization of case management fit for the situations of the nation; second, it raised a need to organize a devoted case management team; third, there is a need for a clear job manual for case management; fourth, case meetings should be held regularly; fifth, it is required to set qualification criteria for case managers and provide them with education and training; sixth, it is needed to support case managers so that they can exert their personal characteristics fully; and finally, there is a need for plans to reinforce the intrinsic motivation of case managers.
Keywords: case manager, case management performance, self-efficacy, professionalism, job motivation, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, institutional characteristic, institutional support, network, job guideline