Innovation of Social Workers Under Different Leadership Styles: An Experimental Vignette Study

Purpose: Using situational leadership theory, this study examined the innovation of social workers in community-level social work institutions under different leadership styles. Methods: We conducted an online survey experiment on the professional strengths of social workers in eight cities of mainland China from December 8–20, 2020. Results: Both ethical leadership and servant leadership are conducive to social workers’ innovative behaviors. Our full model also suggests that organizational climate moderates the effects of leadership styles on innovative behaviors, with servant leadership having a greater impact than ethical leadership on social workers’ innovative behavior in low-innovation climate environments, but ethical leadership has a greater impact than servant leadership on social workers’ innovative behavior in high-innovation climate environments. Conclusion: Our study provides important strategies to fully stimulate the innovation effects of leadership based on the stage characteristics of social work innovation practices.