Working Overtime in Social Work Settings: Associations with Burnout, Person-organization Value Congruence and Turnover Intentions among Chinese Social Workers

Abstract

Working overtime is one of the risk factors for turnover intention; however, little is known about its mediating and moderating mechanisms, especially among social workers. This study adds to the knowledge through investigating the mediating role of burnout and the moderating role of person-organization value congruence. A sample of 5,930 Chinese social workers (Mean age = 30.4 years old, SD = 7.9) is obtained from the China Social Work Longitudinal Study (CSWLS) 2019. Results illustrate that burnout mediates the relationship between working overtime and turnover intention. Additionally, the direct effect of working overtime on turnover intention is moderated by person-organization value congruence, with the effect being weaker for social workers with high person-organization value congruence than for those with low person-organization value congruence. These findings provide new insights for explaining how working overtime influences turnover intention. Implications for policy and practice are also discussed.