Inclusive Leadership to Address Discrimination and Improve Retention in Child Welfare: Examining Multiple Pathways

Inclusive leadership has been discussed as an effective approach to workforce retention and workplace racial discrimination by satisfying the demand for belongingness and uniqueness. However, scant research has investigated the relationship between inclusive leadership and retention in child welfare. Using survey data collected from child welfare workers (n = 2469) across three public child welfare agencies, the current study examined the direct impact of inclusive leadership on child welfare workers’ intent to stay at their agency, as well as its indirect impact on intent to stay by influencing workplace racial discrimination. This study also explored the moderation effect of inclusive climate on the direct and indirect impacts of inclusive leadership using the PROCESS Program for SPSS. The research findings revealed that the direct and indirect impacts of inclusive leadership on intent to stay were significant. The findings also suggest that inclusive climate strengthened the positive association between inclusive leadership and intent to stay. Overall, this study demonstrated the potential of inclusive leadership to enhance racial equity and workforce retention in public child welfare systems. Future research needs to explore how specific behaviors of inclusive leaders improve workforce retention and explore other factors that could explain the impact of inclusive leadership.