Evaluate your community and identify types of social work micro practice settings.

Journal of Social Work

13(6) 563–581

! The Author(s) 2012

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DOI: 10.1177/1468017311435866

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Article

Effectiveness of micro- and macro-level intervention at times of economic crisis

Ayelet Makaros and Haya Itzhaky Bar-Ilan University, Israel

Abstract

� Summary: The aim of the study was to examine perceptions of micro- and macro-level

role effectiveness and the factors that contribute to those perceptions among social

workers in rural communities that are undergoing an economic crisis. We also

examined the correlations between these perceptions and various components of

social workers’ role behavior, as well as social workers’ sense of empowerment and

personal characteristics. This was a quantitative study, which was conducted among a

sample of 149 social workers in Israel.

� Findings: The contribution of components of role behavior to enhancing social

workers’ levels of perceived role effectiveness was highest, whereas sense of empower-

ment and personal variables contributed less. Moreover, information gathering contrib-

uted to perceptions of effectiveness at both the micro- and macro-levels, whereas

guidance and community roles contributed to perceived effectiveness only at the

macro-level.

� Applications: The contribution of the study lies in the identification of social workers’

roles at times of economic crisis. Moreover, the findings highlight the importance of

investing in empowerment of social workers. We believe the results can be generalized

to other communities in crisis.

Keywords

Social work, effectiveness, empowerment, micro, macro, role behavior, social worker

Corresponding author:

Ayelet Makaros, School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel.

Email: [email protected]

In light of far-reaching developments over the past few decades, communities and organizations around the world have had to adopt new perspectives and patterns of action (Heifetz & Laurie, 1997). The situation of rural communities in Israel is a case in point, which reflects the major changes that have taken place in Israeli society, and can provide a basis for examining how social workers deal with large-scale changes at the macro-level. The first change that has taken place in these communities is a dramatic ideological and moral change, that is, a transition from a socialistic perception which endorses equality, mutual responsibility, and helping individuals to a competitive perception that emphasizes individualism, personal freedom, and self-realization. The second change has taken place in the economic domain. This change was affected by the economic crisis that took place in the 1980s in Israel and in the rest of the world (Rosner & Getz, 1996). Moshavim and kibbutzim invested large sums of money in industry and agriculture without any justification. They took loans that incurred a debt amounting 400 percent per annum. In addition, they invested in stock market securities and sustained sub- stantial losses with the collapse of bank shares in 1983 (Rosner & Getz, 1996). Because the Israeli government was not willing to cover these debts, the commu- nities that had organized unions and managed individual finances collapsed. This led to an economic crisis in the communities as a whole and among individual members of those communities (Pavin, 2003). This situation generated further social crises, which also resulted in a desire for privatization and led to changes in the rural communities (Rosner & Getz, 1996). In that context, there has been a major trend toward privatization of services in an attempt to introduce economic improvements and reforms in rural communities.

The third change has been a transition from reliance on informal, community- based support to formal, institutional, external support (Horowitz & Rosenthal, 1994; Rounds, 1988; Wilson, Edwards, Alston, Harley, & Doughty, 2002; Wodarski, 1983). Whereas assistance was once provided by various community organizations, residents of rural communities have been forced to deal with formal, bureaucratic procedures in order to receive municipal services and assis- tance (Almaliah, 2009; Shapiro, 2010; Sheaffer, Yeheskel, & Ganzach, 2002). In light of these changes, social workers have also had to alter their intervention methods.

The present study examined role effectiveness among social workers in rural communities at times of economic crisis. In that context, we focused on new tasks assigned to those workers following processes of change in their work envir- onment. The study is relevant to communities undergoing various social and eco- nomic transitions, and emphasizes the potential role of social workers in these processes. Toward that end, we examined the contribution of three sets of variables to the social workers’ perceptions of their role effectiveness in professional inter- vention: demographic variables, sense of personal and group empowerment, and components of role behavior (community roles, representation and mediation,

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information gathering, and training). The findings of previous studies have revealed that the contribution of empowerment to measures of role effectiveness is not only direct, and that it can be even greater when empowerment interacts with other variables (Itzhaky, 2003; Lipschitz-Elhawi, 2004).

Effectiveness

In the field of social work, effectiveness is a multidimensional concept, for which there is no universally accepted definition (Jenkins, 1987). Cameron (1986) main- tained that although the definition of effectiveness in the literature is vague, it is a central concept in the organizational sciences, and it must be addressed from a theoretical perspective. In Cameron’s view, because the concept is so complex, researchers can only agree that there is disagreement on issues relating to effective- ness. The literature emphasizes the need for additional research on topic, especially at the macro level (Combs, Cain, & Wilson, 2004; Itzhaky & Dekel, 2005; Mizrahi, 1992; Newman & Roberts, 1997). According to one approach, effectiveness in social work relates to the aspiration to ensure the best results for the target popula- tion (Cox & Amsters, 2002), based on the pre-defined goals (Cramer, Mueller, & Harrop, 2003; Schutz, 2007). However, another approach relates to evaluation of the process: evaluation of activities, methods, and tools that are used to achieve results (Itzhaky & Dekel, 2005). According to the literature, effectiveness in social work can be examined on two levels: the micro-level, which includes clinical inter- ventions such as diagnosis and treatment of problems, as well as helping indivi- duals identify their strengths (Gorey, Thyer, & Pawluck, 1998; Itzhaky & Dekel, 2005); and the macro-level, which includes tasks such as grassroots policy-making, social action, planning, and organizing groups (Itzhaky, 2003; Itzhaky & York, 1991). Hence, some researchers have highlighted the importance of examining effectiveness at both the micro- and the macro-levels (Gorey et al., 1998; Itzhaky & Dekel, 2008). In the present study, an intervention was conducted in an attempt to promote the development of an entire community. However, because the inter- vention also contributed to the members of that community as individuals, its effectiveness was examined at both the macro- and micro-levels. Examination of effectiveness can be measured from various perspectives, such as: the workers, the clients, and the service providers. In this article, perceived effectiveness was exam- ined on the basis of the workers themselves.

Role behavior

Expectations regarding the professional role of social workers derive from the legal definition of social work as an occupation that aims to improve the personal and social functioning of the individual, family, and community by means of treatment, rehabilitation, counseling, and training (National Association of Social Workers, 2009). Various researchers have discussed the social worker’s role (Itzhaky, 1994; Koeske, Lichtenwalter, & Koeske, 2005;

Makaros and Itzhaky 565

Miley, O’Melia, & DuBois, 1998; Weiss-Gal, 2007), but all of them have defined that role in terms of its components, which include different tasks. The main components of the social worker’s role are therapy, diagnosis, mediation, training, supervision, initiative, advocacy, organization, and development. Within rural communities, the social worker’s role has been defined as including three levels: the individual, the group, and the organiza- tion (Itzhaky, 2003). Nitzan and Vered (1991) also included micro-level roles such as individual and family treatment, as well as macro-level roles such as training and supervision of service providers and counseling for committee members.

The present study focused on four main roles of the social worker: a) community roles – including organization and supervision of various groups in the community, as well as development of programs, and changing regulations and policies within and outside the community; b) representation and mediation – including represen- tation of clients vis-à-vis service agencies, and mediation between community mem- bers and service agencies; c) information gathering roles – including identification of social problems, and gathering information on community issues and services; and d) training roles – including training, supervision, and counseling of commu- nity service providers. The present study examined the social workers’ roles based on the frequency of performance of different tasks associated with each of those roles.

Only a few studies have explored the relationship between role behavior and perceptions of the effectiveness of interventions. Those studies have focused mainly on the relationship between specific macro-level tasks and effectiveness, but have not addressed all aspects of the social worker’s role (Bale, 2002; Schnake, 1991). For example, Schnake (1991) examined cooperation between social workers and their colleagues, and Bale (2002) examined cooperation between social workers and professionals in other disciplines. The results of those studies indicate that the components of cooperation increase the exchange of information within and out- side of the organization, and contribute to macro-level effectiveness. To the best of our knowledge, no other studies have revealed a clear relationship between other role components and macro-level effectiveness, nor have relationships been revealed between role components and micro-level effectiveness. In an attempt to fill that gap, the current study aimed to examine the relationship between social workers’ role behavior (community roles, representation and mediation, gathering information, and training) and their perceptions of their effectiveness at both the micro- and macro-levels.

Empowerment

Empowerment is not a personality trait, but a system of cognitions that take form in a given work environment (Thomas & Velthouse, 1990). It is defined on a continuum, which ranges from more empowerment at one end to less empower- ment at the other. Thus, it is assumed that people neither completely lack nor

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completely possess empowerment (Spreitzer, 1995). Thomas and Velthouse (1990) viewed empowerment as a multidimensional concept, which was measured by means of four criteria: the meaning of work, worker’s ability, self-determinism, and impact on results at work.

According to Frans (1993), the social worker’s sense of empowerment is based on five components: a) positive self-perception, that is, a sense of self-validation and self-esteem; b) critical awareness regarding the worker’s position within broader systems, such as the family, the organization, or society; c) control of knowledge and skills, that is, the individual’s ability to influence events in his or her life or in the lives of others; d) a natural tendency to act, that is, the power to initiate effective action for one’s own benefit or for the benefit of others; and e) a sense of collective identity, that is, a sense that one is part of a social group or system where goals, resources, and values can be shared.

Research findings have revealed a positive correlation between professionals’ sense of empowerment and their perceptions of role effectiveness (Butler, 1994; Cummings, 1997; D’Haene, 1995; Duckett & Fryer, 1998; Dveirin & Adams, 1993; Frans, 1993; Johnson & Mcintye, 1998; Neeman, 1995; Pryor, 1992; Sarri & Sarri, 1992; Spreitzer, Kizilos, & Nason, 1997; Van-Ruy & Heaney, 1997; Wiatrowski & Campoverde, 1996). Existing research has also revealed that perso- nal empowerment (e.g. positive self-perception, self-awareness, control of knowl- edge and skills, and a natural inclination to act) as well as group empowerment (e.g. a sense of collective identity) significantly affect the nature of the changes and the effectiveness of micro-level role behavior in situations such as crisis, anxiety, sense of instability, and uncertainty (Dench, 2002; Kauff, 2002; McCallum, Arnold, & Bolland, 2002). Regarding the macro-level, Itzhaky (2003) and Dobri (2001) found that empowerment only contributes significantly to role effectiveness when it interacts with demographic variables at the micro- and macro-levels.

Based on the literature reviewed above, the present study examined the contri- bution of personal and group empowerment to social workers’ perceptions of their role effectiveness. Research has shown that sometimes empowerment does not influence effectiveness directly, but emerges through demographic variables. Therefore, it is also important to examine the impact of the interaction between empowerment and demographic variables on effectiveness.

Demographic variables (job seniority, full- or part-time employment, and marital status)

The research literature indicates that perceptions of the effectiveness of a given process are influenced by the demographic variables of those who generate that process. Job seniority (years of service in the organization), marital status, and extent of employment (full- or part-time) have been found to correlate with workers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the process they generate (Kim, 1996; Koberg, Boss, Senjem, & Goodman, 1999; Schneider, 1987; Thompson & Marley, 1999). Koberg et al. (1999) and Schneider (1987) found a negative correlation between

Makaros and Itzhaky 567

social workers’ job seniority and their perceptions of the effectiveness of client participation: the higher their job seniority, the lower the effectiveness of client participation. In a study that examined the effectiveness of Australian social workers in different processes, Long and Lamb (2002) found differences between full-time and part-time workers. Those who worked full time were found to be more effective in their work than those who worked part time. Friedman (2001) reported a similar tendency among community coordinators: those who worked full time were more effective in their relationships with schools than those who worked half time.

Based on the theoretical review, the present study examined the contribution of role behavior, sense of personal and group empowerment, and demographic vari- ables to perceived role effectiveness at the micro- and macro-levels among social workers in rural communities.

Method

Sample

The participants in the study were 149 social workers who worked in social service departments in rural communities throughout Israel. These workers comprised 90 percent of all social workers in rural communities (collective moshavim and kib- butzim) in Israel. In those communities, all of the profits of individuals are depos- ited into the collective budget of the community, and do not reach individuals.

Of the participants in the sample, 140 (94%) were women, and most of them (70.2%) were aged 31–50; 123 (84.2%) were married, and only 22 were unmarried; 142 (95.3%) were not religious, whereas only six were traditional or religious; 132 of the workers (89.2%) lived in rural communities, and the rest resided in cities. Eighty-six of the workers (58%) had Bachelor’s degrees, and 61 (42%) had Master’s degrees. About one-third (30.3%) had been employed in the field of social work for more than 15 years. More than half (55.9%) had less than five years of experience working in the rural sector, and over half (55.5%) reported that they had not received any specific training in community work. As for hours of work per week, 56.3 percent of the social workers worked full time, 31.3 percent worked a three-quarter shift, and 11.8 percent worked half time. No differences were found between the workers in kibbutzim and collective moshavim.

Instruments

Demographic variables. A questionnaire was administered to obtain demographic data about the social workers, including job seniority (years of service in the organization), full- or part-time employment, and marital status.

Effectiveness. A questionnaire developed by Itzhaky (2003) was used to measure perceived effectiveness. Participants were asked to indicate the extent to which

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they feel they have accomplished their goals at the micro level (identification of problems, therapy, mediation between clients and the system, and help in identifying strengths), as well as at the macro-level (policy-making, planning activities, imple- mentation of community-related programs, and organizing groups). Responses to each of the above-mentioned components of effectiveness were based on a five-point scale ranging from 1 (very low effectiveness) to 5 (very high effectiveness). The Cronbach’s alpha reliability of the questionnaire in the present study was .84 for the micro-level items, and .87 for the macro-level items. This instrument was validated by Itzhaky and Dekel (2005). In their study, the Cronbach’s alpha values were .82 for micro-level roles, and .86 for macro-level roles.

Role behavior. The questionnaire was developed by Itzhaky (2003), and included 39 items which reflect tasks that characterize the social worker’s role. In keeping with the focus of the present study, the researchers selected only the tasks that relate to change in the community. Although micro-level roles focused on dealing with the crisis, they were eliminated from the questionnaire because the partici- pants ranked the frequency of those tasks as very high (5), and the variance was not sufficient to conduct statistical analyses. Examination of the means and standard deviations for performance of roles (1–5) revealed that the social work- ers performed clinical tasks more frequently (M¼ .4.66, SD¼ .79) than commu- nity tasks (M¼ .2.01, SD¼ .76).

Consequently, 21 tasks were used to measure the participants’ perceptions of their role behavior. Participants were asked to evaluate how frequently they per- form each task, on a five-point scale ranging from 1 (rarely), to 5 (at least once a week). Based on principal component factor analysis, the items were divided into four factors, where Eigenvalue of each factor was greater than 1. These four factors explained 57.8 percent of the variance in the role behavior variables. The loadings of the 21 items on the four factors are presented in Table 1.

The first factor included nine tasks relating to the social worker’s community roles, and their loading was greater than .46. The second factor included six tasks relating to representation and mediation, and their loading was greater than .60. The third factor included three tasks related to gathering information, and their loading was greater than .64. The fourth factor included three tasks, involving training, and their loading was over .80. Four overall scores were derived from the mean scores on each of the four factors.

Sense of empowerment. A questionnaire developed by Frans (1993) was used in this study to evaluate the participants’ sense of empowerment. The instrument con- sisted of 34 items, which measure the following five components of personal and group empowerment: knowledge and skills; collective identity; critical awareness; self-perception; and natural tendency to act. Responses were based on a five-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly agree), to 5 (strongly disagree). Gerber (2002) and Bustin (2002) conducted a higher order factor analysis, and divided the five com- ponents of empowerment in the original questionnaire into two domains: group

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identity, and personal empowerment. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability of the ques- tionnaire in each of those studies was .91.

Procedure

One hundred and sixty questionnaires were distributed in all of the social service departments in moshavim and kibbutzim that employ at least three social workers. This procedure was adopted, because in social service departments with less than three social workers, the assistance provided in the crisis was not planned or organized – in contrast to the departments with at least three social workers. Notably, there were only four localities with less than three social workers.

Eleven of the social workers selected for the sample refused to complete the questionnaire, so that a total of 149 questionnaires were completed (an 88%

Table 1. Factor loading of role behavior tasks

Task

Factor

1 2 3 4

Organization and establishment of population groups .80

Supervision of self-help groups .79

Development of general programs in community .70

Organizing community members to generate change

in regulations and policy within and outside of the community

.67

Activation and inclusion of community members in

community activities

.65

Planning new services in the community .63

Mediation among service providers .60

Influencing services or individuals .47

Teamwork regarding community problems .46

Representation of clients to service agencies .79

Program management .71

Development of community initiatives .71

Development of region-wide programs .66

Mediation between community members and services .61

Helping people utilize services .60

Identification of social problems .79

Gathering information on community issues .75

Gathering information on services in community .64

Training and supervision of service providers .84

Supervision and counseling of clients .83

Referral of clients to other agencies .80

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response rate). The researchers distributed questionnaires to the social workers at department staff meetings, and collected them at the end of the meetings.

Results

To examine the contribution of the research variables (role behavior, sense of empowerment, and demographic variables) to explaining the variance in role effec- tiveness at the micro- and macro-levels, we performed stepwise hierarchical regres- sion analyses. In the first step, three demographic variables (job seniority, marital status, and full-/part-time employment) were entered. In the second step, the dimensions of empowerment (personal empowerment and group empowerment) and the interactions between those and demographic variables were added. In the

Table 2. Hierarchical regression of the explanation of variance in perception of effectiveness

Predictors b B SEB R2

Micro-level effectiveness

First step .07**

Job seniority 21* �.01 .01

Extent of employment .20* .13 .06

Second step .12***

Job seniority �.21* �.01 .01

Extent of employment .11 .07 .06

Personal empowerment .24** .25 .09

Third step .28***

Job seniority �.15* �.01 .01

Extent of employment .14* .09 .06

Personal empowerment .13 .14 .09

Information role behavior .17* .14 .06

Macro-level effectiveness

Second step .08**

Personal empowerment .21* .25 .10

Group empowerment x family status �.18* �.12 .06

Third step .28***

Personal empowerment .13* .15 .09

Group empowerment x family status �.15* �.10 .05

Training role behavior .27** .16 .05

Information role behavior .22** .13 .05

Community role behavior .15* .11 .06

*p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001.

Makaros and Itzhaky 571

third step, the role behavior variables were added. The results of the regression analyses are presented in Table 2.

According to the hierarchical regression analyses, the independent variables explained 28 percent of the variance in micro- and macro-level measures of role effectiveness. The contribution of the demographic variables entered in the first step to explaining micro-level role effectiveness was minimal (7%). Job seniority con- tributed negatively to micro-level role effectiveness: the greater the social workers’ job seniority, the lower were their evaluations of micro-level role effectiveness. Extent of employment contributed positively to micro-level role effectiveness: the greater the social workers’ extent of employment, the higher their perceptions of micro-level role effectiveness. The demographic variables did not contribute sig- nificantly to macro-level role effectiveness.

In the second step of the regression analyses, empowerment added 5 percent to the explained variance in micro-level role effectiveness, and 8 percent to the explained variance in macro-level role effectiveness. Personal empowerment pre- dicted changes in perceived role effectiveness at both the micro- and macro-levels. The greater the social workers’ sense of personal empowerment, the higher their perceived micro- and macro-level role effectiveness. In this step, the interaction between group empowerment and marital status contributed significantly to macro-level role effectiveness. A high significant correlation was found between group empowerment and macro-level role effectiveness among the unmarried social workers (r¼ .57, p< .01), whereas the correlation between those variables among the married social workers was low and insignificant (r¼ .11, p> .05).

In the third step of the regression analyses, the role behavior variables added 16 percent to the explained variance in micro-level role effectiveness, and 20 percent to the explained variance in macro-level role effectiveness. Information-gathering roles contributed to both micro- and macro-level role effectiveness, whereas the performance of training and community roles contributed only to macro-level effectiveness. The more frequently the participants engaged in these roles, the higher their evaluations of their macro-level effectiveness.

Discussion

The study aimed to examine the contribution of role behavior, sense of empower- ment, and demographic variables to social workers’ perceptions of their role effec- tiveness in micro- and macro-level intervention in rural communities at times of economic crisis.

Role behavior

The research findings indicate that the components of role behavior contributed most to the social workers’ perceptions of their role effectiveness, followed by personal empowerment and demographic variables. The role behavior component that contributed most to the social workers’ perceptions of effectiveness at both the

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micro- and macro-levels during the period of economic crisis was information gathering, whereas training and community roles contributed only to macro-level role effectiveness. In other words, the more the social workers engaged in roles related to information gathering, the greater was their perceived micro- and macro- level role effectiveness; the more they performed training and community roles, the greater was their perceived macro-level role effectiveness.

The finding that information-gathering roles contributed to perceptions of micro-level role effectiveness might be associated with social, economic, and ideological changes in rural communities. Among other outcomes, those changes might have affected the sources of support provided to community members. Before the changes were introduced in the rural communities, mutual aid among the members of those communities was the primary source of support. Afterwards, this source of support declined, and the need for information from formal, institutionalized sources of support outside of the community increased (Coward & Smith, 1983). However, it might have been difficult to obtain such formal support due to lack of knowledge about the rights, procedures, and laws that characterize bureaucratic processes. Therefore, it is crucial to provide com- munity members with information about organizations that can offer assistance, and how such assistance can be obtained (Gibelman, 1999; Tal, 1998; Walz & Groze, 1991). Thus, the findings of the present study indicate that the social workers were aware of the community members’ need for this kind of guidance, and that the performance of information-gathering roles increased their sense of effectiveness. As for the effectiveness of macro-level roles or system-wide com- munity intervention, the findings indicate that the social workers’ perceptions of their role effectiveness were influenced by the extent to which they engaged in information-gathering, training, and community roles. These findings appear to reflect the very nature of macro-level intervention, which is directed mainly at community leadership (Gibelman, 1999; Tal, 1998; Walz & Groze, 1991). In this aspect of their work, the social workers provided counseling and guidance to the members of different community committees, and taught them skills that are necessary for promoting change. Thus, it seems that training and community roles, which involve imparting skills to community leaders, increased the social workers’ perceptions of their macro-level effectiveness.

Empowerment

The findings also indicate that the social workers’ sense of personal empowerment contributed to their micro- and macro-level effectiveness at times of economic crisis. Thus, the social workers who felt personally empowered ascribed greater effectiveness to their roles at both the clinical and system-wide levels. Group empowerment, in contrast, did not contribute directly to any of the dimensions of effectiveness examined in this study. Rather, there is only indirect evidence of its contribution, as reflected in the interactions between the social workers’ percep- tions of their macro-level effectiveness and their marital status: unmarried social

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workers who reported a sense of group empowerment assessed their macro-level roles as effective.

A possible explanation for these findings relates to the nature of the two types of empowerment. Personal empowerment essentially involves a sense of self-confidence, as well as an ability to promote processes of change and use knowl- edge. These variables contributed to effective performance of micro-level as well as macro-level roles. Group empowerment, in comparison, refers to collective identity and to the sense of belonging to a team. These variables contributed to perceptions of effectiveness, mainly at the macro-level. With regard to the interaction between the social workers’ sense of group empowerment and their marital status, it seems that the unmarried social workers tended to feel more isolated than did their married counterparts. Perhaps this is why group empowerment, which is based on common experiences, increased their sense of belonging to the collective. Through the sense of belonging, the unmarried social workers benefited from group empowerment more than their married counterparts. This, in turn, increased their perceived macro-level effectiveness.

The finding that personal empowerment contributed to perceptions of micro- and macro-level role effectiveness highlights the need to cultivate such empower- ment among social workers in rural communities. The far-reaching changes that have taken place in those communities and the increasing reliance on formal insti- tutional support highlight the need for social workers to acquire new skills that will enable them to provide appropriate guidance to clients. Those skills include coor- dination between community members and mediation with organizations that pro- vide support, as well as acquisition of information (Tal, 1998). Because the changes may arouse fear and anxiety in workers (Call, 1993; Kirschenblatt, 1996; Laor & Sackowitz, 1996; Rhinehart, 1992), the more they develop a sense of personal empowerment, the better able they will be to cope with the situation and perform their jobs effectively.

Demographic variables

The demographic variables examined in the present study contributed very little to the participants’ perceptions of micro- and macro-level role effectiveness at times of economic crisis. Nevertheless, two findings are noteworthy. First, job seniority and extent of employment contributed to the social workers’ perceptions of their micro- level role effectiveness: the longer the social workers had been working in the community, the higher their levels of perceived micro-level role effectiveness were. Moreover, full-time social workers reported higher levels of role effectiveness at the micro-level than did those who were employed half time. Regarding job seniority, it can be assumed that the social workers with low job seniority were younger than those with high job seniority. Because younger professionals are at the stage of developing their skills and attitudes, they are generally more flexible, adaptable, and open to experimentation and new ideas (Woodman, Sawyer, & Griffin, 1993). Another possible explanation is that social workers with higher

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job seniority are more self-aware and self-critical. Therefore, they have a more realistic perception of their own effectiveness. This explanation is consistent with the theory proposed by Byrne (1996) and Harter (1990), who argued that older people have different levels of self-awareness than younger people. Older people have multi-dimensional and realistic perspectives than younger people due to their experiences of disappointment and loss in different areas in life such as employment and parenthood (Haetzni, 2001).

In the context of change in a rural community, where the social workers faced a range of new demands, it appears that the younger professionals were better able to adapt to their roles and therefore reported higher levels of role effectiveness than did their older colleagues with higher levels of job seniority. These changes in the rural community, which have implications for social work intervention, might also explain the finding that hours of work per week contributed to the participants’ perceptions of their role effectiveness. The findings indicate that social workers in rural communities need to acquire new skills which reflect the changes in their work environment, such as gathering information about formal support agencies, advo- cacy, and mediation. Because these activities entail a considerable investment of energy and time, it appears that full-time workers are able to cope with the chan- ging role requirements better than part-time workers.

As mentioned, the findings of this study emphasize the contribution of perceived role effectiveness at the micro-level and not at the macro-level. Notably, commu- nity and system-wide changes in the work environment were found to have less of an impact on micro-level roles than macro-level roles. This suggests that the social workers had more confidence in their ability to perform micro-level roles, and that they believed they could perform those roles more effectively than macro-level roles.

Conclusions and recommendations

The research findings indicate that the role behavior variables contributed most to the social workers’ perceptions of their role effectiveness in the rural community at times of economic crisis. In this context, the contribution of information gathering to increasing the effectiveness of intervention at the micro- and macro-levels is most noteworthy. Evidently, in communities that are subject to social, ideological, and system-wide influences from outside, the role of gathering information is extremely important. In our study, this role was found to be especially relevant to helping the members of the community cope with the transition from informal mutual support to formal institutional support. The information that social workers provide to their clients regarding new sources of support and procedures for obtaining assis- tance, as well as information about rights and obligations can help community members cope with these changes. Training and community roles, mainly at the macro-level, were also found to contribute to shaping social workers’ perceptions of their role effectiveness. In light of these findings, we suggest that intensive work- shops for social workers in rural communities at times of economic crisis might

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focus on enhancing their ability to perform information gathering, training, and community roles.

Furthermore, the finding that personal empowerment contributed to perceptions of role effectiveness at the micro- and macro-levels highlights the need to focus on enhancing those resources among social workers. Specifically, it is important for supervisors to reinforce the social workers’ self-image and self-esteem, as well as to enhance awareness of their personal abilities. In contrast, group empowerment was not found to contribute appreciably to perceived role effectiveness, except among unmarried social workers. We therefore recommend organizing group support ses- sions aimed at promoting a sense of collective belonging among social workers.

Finally, based on the findings regarding social workers’ demographic variables, it might be argued that social workers with relatively little job seniority function better in rural communities at times of economic crisis. Evidently, those workers find it easier to adapt to changes in their work environment than do more experi- enced social workers. With regard to professionals who have more extensive experi- ence working in the community, it would be worthwhile to conduct workshops that will provide them with information about relevant changes as well as with tools to cope with these changes. In addition, owing to the need for considerable investment in professional intervention in rural communities, and in light of the finding that full-time employment can contribute to the perceived effectiveness of social work- ers in those contexts, we recommend that professionals in those communities serve in full-time positions.

A practical limitation of the current study is that the findings relate specifically to small rural communities in which changes led to a significant loss of community support and belonging. As mentioned, the study dealt with rural communities in a situation of economic crisis. Hence, the question is whether these findings only apply to rural communities in financial crisis, or whether they can be generalized to community work in other contexts. We argue that macro-intervention is appro- priate for any crisis, whether the crisis is economic or social, and that it can also be appropriate for various types of communities. However, it is also important to bear in mind that this was a preliminary study. Notably, Ben-Tzur (2010) revealed similar findings in a study conducted among activists supervised by social workers in urban neighborhoods, where macro-level roles correlated with micro-level and macro-level effectiveness. However, despite the similarity in these findings there is still a need to conduct further research on the contribution of the variables exam- ined in this study to perceived role effectiveness among social workers in various community contexts such as neighborhood communities, and communities that have experienced crises.

Research ethics

The request for support to conduct this study was submitted to the Yad Tabenkin Research and Documentation Center of the Kibbutz Movement. Questionnaires were sent to the steering committee of Yad Tabenkin, which gave ethical and

576 Journal of Social Work 13(6)

professional approval for the study. We also received approval from each of the local authorities participating in the study to distribute questionnaires in local social service departments. Moreover, each of the participants signed an informed consent form with information about the aims of the study.

Funding

The present article is based on a research project sponsored by Yad Tabenkin, Ramat Efal – The Research and Documentation Center for the Kibbutz Movement.

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