British Journal of Social Work (2016) 46, 1890–1908

doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcv138
Advance Access Publication March 12, 2016

Social Workers’ Policy Practice in

Non-Profit Human Service
Organisations in Israel
Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan1, Idit Weiss-Gal2,* and John Gal3

1
School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
2
Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, Israel
3
Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
Israel

*Correspondence to Professor Idit Weiss-Gal, Ph.D., Bob Shapell School of Social Work,
Tel Aviv University, POB 39040, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.
E-mail: iditweis@post.tau.ac.il

Abstract
The study’s aim is to expand knowledge on the level of involvement in policy-related
interventions (‘policy practice’, PP) among social workers employed by non-profit hu-
man service organisations (NPHSOs) in Israel, and on the motivational and facilitating
factors associated with this. The sample consisted of 106 social workers employed in
NPHSOs that include social advocacy as one of their goals. Findings revealed a rela-
tively low level of involvement in PP. Level of involvement was associated with politi-
cal efficacy, political interest, activity in political and professional organisations, civic
and professional skills, and organisational support for PP. The strongest predictors
were PP skills and organisational support. The study’s conclusion is that an under-
standing of involvement in PP must take into account both the degree to which an
organisational context facilitates this type of practice and the individual factors that
motivate PP involvement. As such, consolidation of PP among social workers should
address both facilitating and motivational issues.

Keywords: Human service organisations; policy practice; political interest; political

efficacy; social workers

Accepted: November 2015

# The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of

The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.
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 Social Workers’ Policy Practice 1891

Introduction

‘Policy practice’ (PP), a term initially coined by Bruce Jansson (1984),

refers to:
... activities, undertaken by social workers as an integral part of their
professional activity in diverse fields and types of practice, that focus on
the formulation and implementation of new policies, as well as on
existing policies and suggested changes in them (Gal and Weiss-Gal,
2013, pp. 4–5).

PP interventions are generally perceived to be undertaken by all social

workers as part of their professional practice (British Association of
Social Workers, 2012; Ritter, 2013). The international social work dis-
course, which emphasises social justice and social change, sees PP as a
crucial route leading to more just and effective solutions to social prob-
lems (Hare, 2004; IFSW, 2014).
During the last two decades, interest in PP in social work in different
countries has increased (Weiss-Gal, in press). The volume of conceptual lit-
erature devoted to PP has grown dramatically, mostly in the USA
(Cummins et al., 2011; Hoefer, 2012; Jansson, 2014), but also in other coun-
tries, among them South Africa (Gray, 1996; Mazibuko, 1996) and Israel
(Weiss-Gal and Gal, 2011). In addition, scholarly efforts to measure levels
of involvement in PP in everyday practice, and to study the factors associ-
ated with this, were also undertaken (Ezell, 2001; Hardina, 1995; Weiss-Gal
and Gal, 2008), although to a much lesser degree (Hoefer, 2013).
Third-sector organisations are a central provider of social services and a
major place of employment for social workers in many nations
(Dickinson et al., 2012; McKeever and Pettijohn, 2014) and are often re-
ferred to as non-profit human service organisations (NPHSOs). While the
advocacy efforts of these organisations has been a subject of some interest
in the literature (Plitt Donaldson, 2007; Hasenfeld and Garrow, 2012;
MacIndoe and Whalen, 2013; Sarmiento Mellinger et al., 2013; Almog-Bar
and Schmid, 2014), the policy role of social workers employed in
NPHSOs has not been studied. The aim of this article is to shed more
light on the level of involvement in PP among social workers employed
by NPHSOs in Israel and the factors associated with this.

Policy practice by social workers: levels and factors

A recent literature review on studies on social workers’ involvement in

PP reached three main conclusions (Weiss-Gal, under review). The first
was that only limited published research has studied exclusively the PP
involvement of social workers as part of their work setting and this has
concluded that the levels of involvement in this type of practice are low
(Weiss-Gal, 2008; Hardina, 1995; Ezell, 2001). The second was that most

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 1892 Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan et al.

studies on the factors associated with social workers’ policy involvement

do not distinguish between the political participation of social workers
as individual citizens and their involvement in PP as part of their social
work practice. These two types of policy-change activities are related
but are not the same. Political participation is undertaken by individuals
(in this case, social workers) seeking to influence their political environ-
ment as citizens in a polity. By contrast, PP is a type of professional ac-
tivity undertaken by social workers operating within a specific
organisational context in order to affect policy. Social workers’ policy-re-
lated activities are part of their professional conduct and they represent
the agency in which they are employed (Mosley, 2013). These activities
will inevitably reflect the goals, values and limitations of that agency.
They will also be primarily non-electoral by nature. Thus, while the atti-
tudes and skills that determine levels of social workers’ political partici-
pation and of their involvement in PP may be similar, there will also be
factors related to the context in which these activities take place and
their nature that will differ. Conflating the two types of policy-related
activities is a barrier to understanding the specific factors associated
with what social workers do in order to influence policy in the course of
their professional practice in the context of their workplace.
A third conclusion is that two sets of predictors for PP involvement—
facilitating and motivational factors—have been suggested (Gal and Weiss-
Gal, 2015). Facilitating factors are associated with the social worker’s
workplace. Since social workers are typically employed in organisations and
PP is an activity that social workers do as part of their job, their involve-
ment in PP will presumably be influenced by organisational characteristics,
rules, culture and norms (Hasenfeld, 2009; O’Connor and Netting, 2009). In
other words, facilitating factors are the organisational features of a specific
workplace, which determine involvement in PP.
Motivational factors refer to the motivation of individual social
workers to be involved in PP, and include both internal and external fac-
tors (Gal and Weiss-Gal, 2015). Internal factors pertain to the values, ca-
pabilities, perceptions, experience, knowledge, skills and traits of
individual social workers, which affect their willingness to engage in PP
and their actual involvement in it. External motivational factors relate
to elements in the social worker’s professional environment that can en-
courage (or discourage) PP involvement. These will include the profes-
sional discourse, activities of professional organisations and social work
education.
The current study sought to move the PP research agenda forward by fo-
cusing exclusively on PP in the work setting (rather than upon social work-
ers’ political participation). It examined one facilitating factor and three
motivational factors for PP involvement among social workers employed in
NPHSOs.

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 Social Workers’ Policy Practice 1893

Facilitating factor

Reflecting the organisational nature of PP, a key facilitating variable is

organisational support for PP, which legitimates or even mandates this
type of practice. It has been suggested that this support is an important
predictor for social workers’ involvement in policy change (Ezell, 2001;
Schneider and Lester, 2001). Studies show that organisational features,
such as the place of PP in an organisation’s agenda, function or priori-
ties, the existence of restrictive agency policies in relation to PP, the
place of PP in a social worker’s job description, and organisational and
peer support for policy involvement, are all related to levels of involve-
ment in policy-related activities (Ezell, 2001; Hardina, 1995).
Drawing upon Schein’s organisational culture theory (Schein, 1990,
2004), this study employed the notion of organisational artefacts as an
indicator of organisational support. Organisational artefacts are the ‘sur-
face level’ of the organisational culture. They are manifestations of the
organisational culture and include forms of behaviour, physical objects
and the organisation’s hidden assumptions (Schein, 2004). It was as-
sumed that organisational support of policy practice manifests itself in
artefacts, such as staff meetings dealing with policy issues, recognition of
involvement in policy processes and the taking-into-account of PP in-
volvement in assessing job promotion for social worker employees.

Motivational factors

Reflecting the commonalities between political participation and PP, in

the sense that both are ‘political’ in nature, motivational factors in this
study were drawn primarily from the ‘Civic Voluntarism Model’ (Verba
et al., 1995). This model predicts the extent of citizens’ participation in
politics and has been found to be relevant to the explanation of civic po-
litical participation of social workers (Hamilton and Fauri, 2001; Ritter,
2008). Based on previous claims that this model (albeit with some adap-
tations) can be also relevant for understanding social workers’ engage-
ment in PP (Hoefer, 2012; Lustig-Gants and Weiss-Gal, 2015), it was
employed here.
Verba et al. (1995) maintain that three main categories of factors in-
fluence individual political participation: resources, psychological en-
gagement and recruitment networks. While the notion of resources in
the Verba theory related to resources available to individuals seeking to
be involved in politics as private citizens, in this study, the focus was on
social workers’ engagement in PP as part of their day-to-day practice.
As such, it examined three resources that were assumed to be of particu-
lar relevance to this type of activity: civic skills, PP skills and seniority
in social work. Civic skills are the capabilities that facilitate effective

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 1894 Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan et al.

participation in political life such as writing, speaking, presenting or

planning (Verba et al., 1995). Professional skills related to PP encompass
the analytical, political and interactional skills that are necessary to fur-
ther policy change (Jansson, 2014). The assumption was that social
workers with relevant PP skills would be better able to be involved in
PP. Indeed, a recurrent claim in the literature is that specific skills are
necessary for PP and that a lack of these can be a barrier for policy in-
volvement (Ezell, 2001). The third resource is seniority in social work,
which was found to be linked to involvement in policy-related activities
(Harris Rome and Hoechstetter, 2010; Koeske et al., 2005; Lustig-Gants
and Weiss-Gal, 2015). Seniority offers a greater sense of job security and
those social workers with more experience can also be expected to have
greater expertise. Social workers with more seniority will thus be able to
better identify lacunae in their field and, due to their job security, will
be less hesitant to express opinions regarding policies. As such, they will
be more likely to take actions to intervene in policy arenas.
Psychological engagement in politics is a second category of factors
identified by Verba et al. (1995). It refers to the degree to which people
want to be involved in political activities and believe that they can have
voice. Of the four suggested indicators of this belief—political interest,
political efficacy, partisanship and political information—three were ex-
amined here. Political interest assumes people who are interested in poli-
tics will be more politically active. Verba et al. (1995) found this had the
greatest impact on civic political participation. Political efficacy refers to
perceived control over the policy process (i.e. an ability to influence pol-
icy makers). Studies show that social workers with higher levels of politi-
cal interest and political efficacy were more involved in political
activities (Hamilton and Fauri, 2001; Ritter, 2008). Finally, Verba et al.
(1995) claimed that partisanship, defined as the strength of party identifi-
cation, plays a role in engaging citizens in politics, which, along with
interest, efficacy and knowledge, provides the desire, knowledge and
self-assurance that impel people to be engaged by politics. Political in-
formation, which referred to specific knowledge concerning the political
system (such as the identity of specific politicians), did not appear partic-
ularly relevant to engagement in policy-related activities in the work-
place and, as such, was not included in the study.
Recruitment networks are another predictor of political participation
according to Verba et al. (1995). Recruitment networks are diverse insti-
tutions of adult life (the workplace and voluntary associations) which
can function as sites for political recruitment and for nurturing political
engagement, as well as for the development of civic skills. As such, they
can motivate political participation. Previous studies show the impor-
tance of social workers belonging to professional recruitment networks,
such as membership in the NASW in the USA (Hamilton and Fauri,
2001; Ritter, 2008) or a trade union in Canada (Hardina, 1995), and the

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 Social Workers’ Policy Practice 1895

impact of belonging to social networks among social work students

(Swank, 2012), for a better understanding of their political participation.
The current study examined the association between the extent of activ-
ity in political and professional networks and the level of PP involve-
ment. The assumption was that active participation in these political and
professional organisations cultivates perceptions, knowledge and skills
relevant to PP. Having acquired these assets, social workers will be
more confident of being able to become involved in PP as an integral
part of their professional undertakings within the context of their
workplace.

NPHSOs in Israel

In Israel, as in other welfare states, NPHSOs are playing an ever more

central role in the provision of social welfare services. While they have
traditionally had a major role in some welfare sectors in that country,
such as the provision of long-term care for the elderly, a marked trend
towards the privatisation of welfare led to a sharp growth in the number
of non-state welfare providers (Gidron et al., 2003). As a result,
NPHSOs have become a major resource in efforts by the state to out-
source social welfare services and to limit direct state involvement in
service provision (Bar-Nir and Gal, 2011). Of the 49,000 registered non-
profits in Israel, 15 per cent are in the welfare sector. Approximately 70
per cent of these non-profits are actually active and the vast majority is
primarily service providers (Sanz Corella and Ben Noon, 2013).
NPHSOs employ social workers in various functions. This is often re-
lated to legislation that dictates that licensed social workers fill specific
positions, which generally focus on professional service provision, case
management and determining accessibility. Of the 21,000 social workers
in the labour force in Israel, just over a half are employed by non-profit
organisations (personal correspondence, 11/02/2015).

The current study

The aim of this study is two-fold: to assess the level of involvement in

PP among social workers in NPHSOs in Israel, and to examine the link
between facilitating and motivational factors and this level of involve-
ment. The study surveyed social workers employed in NPHSOs that in-
clude advocacy as one of their goals. The assumption was that,
theoretically at least, these organisations provide a setting for these so-
cial workers to be involved in PP. The Israeli case is a useful one in that
not only are NPHSOs a major employer of social workers in this coun-
try, but PP is an emerging form of practice in social work discourse and

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 1896 Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan et al.

education in Israel (Weiss-Gal, 2013). The research model is shown in

Figure 1.
The study examined five hypotheses:
1. The greater the psychological engagement in politics, the greater
the PP involvement: social workers with greater political interest,
greater political efficacy and stronger partisanship will be more in-
volved in PP.
2. The higher the level of activity in political and professional net-
works, the greater the PP involvement.
3. The greater the civic and professional skills, the greater the PP
involvement.

Motivational Factors

Psychological engagement:

Political interest

Political efficacy

Partisanship

Recruitment networks:

Activity in social work organizations

Activity in political organizations PP Involvement

Resources:

Civic skills

PP skills

Seniority

Facilitating Factors

Organizational support for PP

Figure 1: Motivational and facilitating predictors for PP involvement

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 Social Workers’ Policy Practice 1897

4. The more the seniority, the greater the PP involvement.

5. The greater the perceived organisational support for PP, the
greater the PP involvement.

Methods
Sample

The sample consisted of 106 social workers employed in nineteen

NPHSOs in Israel. In order to construct the sample, a list of potential
NPHSOs from various sources (among them websites and informants)
that explicitly included social advocacy in their mission statement and
which employed at least one social worker was created. Nineteen
NPHSOs that fulfilled these two conditions were identified. They en-
gaged in major fields of social welfare in which NPHSOs are active:
child welfare, long-term care for the elderly, services for people living in
poverty, community development and asylum-seekers’ rights. All the
nineteen directors of these NPHSOs consented to participate in
the study. A contact in each of the agencies sent an e-mail with a link to
the online survey to social worker employees. The questionnaires were
sent to a total of 218 social workers in the NPHSOs. The 106 respon-
dents in the sample comprised all those social workers who completed
the questionnaires—a response rate of 49 per cent.
Most of the participants were women (88 per cent). Their mean age
was 38.45 years (SD ¼ 10.75). The average number of years of employ-
ment as social workers (seniority) was 11.52 (SD ¼ 10.00).

Research tools

Level of involvement in PP was measured by a twenty-nine-item scale

developed by the authors (see Tayri-Schwartz, 2015). Each item depicted
one of a range of activities that constitute PP in social work (Figueira-
McDonough, 1993; Jansson, 2014). The respondents were asked to indi-
cate (‘yes’ or ‘no’) whether they undertook the activity as part of their
professional practice during their career as social workers. These in-
cluded, for example, contacting policy makers, being a member of a
committee or professional team dealing with a policy problem, or writ-
ing an op-ed or a letter to the editor of a newspaper. Cronbach’s alpha
was high: a ¼ 0.89. Scores were calculated as the percentages of items an-
swered as ‘yes’ from all items and they were then recalculated on a con-
tinuum ranging between 0 and 1. The higher the score, the greater the
involvement in PP.
Civic skills was measured by two questions formulated by Verba et al.
(1995), and translated into Hebrew by the authors (see Teush, 2012).

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 1898 Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan et al.

The questions examined the extent to which individuals believed they

had the skills to influence policy makers: the ability to engage in public
speaking and to draw attention to a specific issue. For example:
‘Imagine you are going to a meeting where participants may criticize
your opinion. To what extent can you address this type of audience with
confidence and effectively?’ Answers were on a four-point Likert scale
(for one of the questions) and a five-point Likert scale (for the second)
ranging from 1 (not at all) to 4/5 (to a large extent). The Cronbach’s al-
pha was adequate (a ¼ 0.84). The score was the average of both ques-
tions (maximum score ¼ 4.5)—the higher the score, the greater the belief
in one’s civic skills.
PP skills was measured using a twenty-seven-item questionnaire devel-
oped by the authors (see Teush, 2012), which examined the extent to
which respondents believed they had skills necessary to engage in PP
(Jansson, 2014). Answers were on a five-point Likert scale ranging from
1 (not at all) to 5 (to a large extent). In order to determine whether the
skills could be divided into sub-groups, an exploratory principal compo-
nents factor analysis was undertaken which yielded four factors with ei-
genvalues greater than 1. These factors jointly explained 63.17 per cent
of the variance. The item loadings of each item in each of the factors
were greater than 0.40. The first, ‘analytical skills’, consisted of ten items
(a ¼ 0.92), such as the ability to analyse a social policy. The second, ‘po-
litical skills’, consisted of nine items (a ¼ 0.89), such as the ability to or-
ganise protest activities. The third, ‘confrontational skills’, consisted of
five items (a ¼ 0.85), such as ‘Present arguments supporting your views
even if they may arouse controversy, dispute or an embarrassing situa-
tion’. The last, ‘leadership skills’, consisted of three items (a ¼ 0.74) re-
lating to leadership qualities in a professional context. Two items were
removed from the analysis since they did not match the factors they
were loaded on. The Cronbach’s alpha for the entire scale was high
(a ¼ 0.95). Respondents received five scores that were the average of all
the items in each of the four factors and a general score. The higher the
score, the greater the PP skills.
Psychological engagement in politics was measured by three variables:
political interest, political efficacy and partisanship. The scales were de-
veloped by Verba et al. (1995) and were translated and adapted to the
Israeli context by the authors (see Teush, 2012).
Political interest was measured by two questions, each asked twice, with
regard to local and to national politics. The questions were: ‘How often do
you discuss politics with friends, neighbors or relatives?’ and ‘How inter-
ested are you in politics?’ Answers were on a five-point Likert scale rang-
ing from 1 (not at all) to 5 (to a large extent). Cronbach’s alpha was good
(a ¼ 0.86). The score was calculated as the average of the four items—the
greater the score, the higher the political interest.

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 Social Workers’ Policy Practice 1899

Political efficacy was measured by two questions, each asked twice,

with regard to local and to national politics. The questions were: ‘How
much attention do you think that a member of the government (minis-
ter, member of parliament, senior official) would pay to a complaint re-
garding a government activity or policy that you raised with him or
her?’ and ‘How much influence do you think someone like you can have
on government decisions?’ The questions were answered on a five-point
Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (to a large extent).
Cronbach’s alpha was acceptable (a ¼ 0.80). The score was the average
of the four items—the higher the scores, the greater the sense of politi-
cal efficacy.
Partisanship was ascertained by two questions: ‘Do you identify with:
(1) a particular political ideology, and (2) with a political party?’ Answers
were on a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very
much). Cronbach’s alpha was high (a ¼ 0.85). The score was the average
of the two items—the higher the score, the greater the partisanship.
The extent of the social worker’s activity in political networks was mea-
sured using a three-item questionnaire developed by the authors (see
Tayri-Schwartz, 2015). The questionnaire examined the extent of a social
worker’s activity in political organisations (such as political parties or so-
cial movements). The participant was asked to indicate the degree of ac-
tivity in each organisation on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (not active
at all) to 6 (highly active). Cronbach’s alpha was adequate (a ¼ 0.68).
The score for each participant was the average of all the items—a higher
score indicated a greater level of activity in political networks.
The extent of the social worker’s activity in professional networks was
measured using a five-item questionnaire developed by the authors (see
Tayri-Schwartz, 2015). The questionnaire examined the extent of the so-
cial worker’s activity in five professional organisations (such as the
Israeli Association of Social Workers). Respondents were asked to indi-
cate the degree of activity on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (not active
at all) to 6 (highly active). Cronbach’s alpha was adequate (a ¼ 0.77).
The score for each respondent was the average of all items—a higher
score indicated a greater level of activity in professional networks.
Organisational support for involvement in PP was measured using an
eight-item scale developed by the authors (see Tayri-Schwartz, 2015) to
examine the extent to which respondents perceived tangible signs of sup-
port from their organisation for PP involvement. The participants were
asked to indicate their degree of agreement on a Likert scale ranging
from 1 (totally disagree) to 5 (very much agree) if the workplace offered
tangible support for PP engagement. This support included the availabil-
ity of information on methods that social workers can use to contact pol-
icy makers or the holding of staff meetings about policy issues.
Cronbach’s alpha was good (a ¼ 0.84) after one item was removed from
the original scale (leaving it with seven items). The score was the

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 1900 Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan et al.

average of all the items—the higher the score, the greater the or-
ganisational support for PP involvement, as perceived by the social
worker.
Demographic and professional features were measured by three items:
age, gender and seniority in social work.

Procedure

The study received approval from the ethics committee of the school of
social work at the Hebrew University. The data were collected between
April 2013 and September 2013. All the social workers gave written in-
formed consent before answering the questioners. The data were col-
lected online using Qualtrics software, which ensures the anonymity of
respondents.

Results
Table 1 provides descriptive statistics regarding the study variables and
the correlations with involvement in PP.
As can be seen, the average level of involvement in PP is relatively
low (Mean ¼ 0.43; SD ¼ 0.22; Median ¼ 0.43). A normal distribution was
found for this variable (Skewness ¼ 0.20, Kurtosis ¼ –0.74). In order to
afford a more detailed portrait of this engagement, we calculated the
percentages of the positive answers to each of the twenty-nine activities
in the PP scale.
The five most common activities undertaken by social workers were
bringing a need or a policy problem to the attention of colleagues (86
per cent of the respondents); getting feedback from service users about
one’s own organisation in order to affect its policies (76 per cent); bring-
ing a social problem to the attention of policy makers (71 per cent); in-
forming service users about a policy problem or limitation and
motivating them to act on policy problem that affects them (66 per
cent); and enhancing the awareness of people in the community to pol-
icy problems that affect them (65 per cent).
Least common were writing a blog or posting a comment on a website
about a policy problem (both 17 per cent); appealing to the courts with
regard to a policy issue (16 per cent); participating in a policy-related
committee (13 per cent); and writing a letter to the editor of a newspa-
per on a policy-related issue (11 per cent).
The Pearson and Spearmen correlations that examined the relation-
ship between the predictor variables and the level of involvement in PP
revealed statistically significant correlations between all the predictors
apart from partisanship. The more the seniority in social work, the

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 Social Workers’ Policy Practice 1901

Table 1 Study measures: descriptive statistics and correlations with policy practice (PP) involve-
ment (N ¼ 106)

Mean SD Min. Max. PP involvement PP involvement

(Pearson (Spearman
correlations) correlations)

Seniority1 11.52 10.0 1 40 0.22* 0.24*

Political interest2 3.45 0.81 1.50 5 0.34*** 0.32***
Political efficacy2 2.70 0.73 1.25 5 0.22** 0.27**
Partisanship2 3.41 1.02 1 5 0.02 0.01
Activity in social work organisations3 1.31 0.63 1 4 0.23* 0.17
Activity in political organisations3 1.67 1.00 1 6 0.31** 0.33***
Civic skills4 3.60 0.64 1 4.5 0.25* 0.23*
PP skills2,6 3.71 0.61 2.31 4.93 0.50*** 0.51***
Organisational support2 2.59 0.92 1 5 0.46*** 0.43***
PP involvement5 0.43 0.22 0.00 0.89

1
In years;
2
between 1 and 5;
3
between 1 and 6;
4
between 1 and 4.5;
5
between 0 and 1;
6
analytical skills (M ¼ 3.95, SD ¼ 0.67); political skills (M ¼ 3.22, SD ¼ 0.77); confrontation skills
(M ¼ 3.67, SD ¼ 0.76); leadership skills (M ¼ 3.91, SD ¼ 0.68).
*
p < 0.05;
**
p < 0.01;
***
p < 0.001.

greater the political interest and efficacy; the higher the extent of activ-
ity in political and professional organisations, the higher the social work-
ers’ assessment of their civic and PP skills; and the greater the perceived
organisational support for involvement in PP, the greater the social
workers’ involvement in PP.
To examine the total and the unique contribution of the predictor vari-
ables to variance in PP involvement, a five-step hierarchical regression anal-
ysis was undertaken. All the motivational variables were entered in the
first four steps and, in the final step, the single facilitation variable was
added. In the first step, the only demographic characteristic that was found
to be significantly correlated with PP involvement, seniority in social work,
was entered. In the second step, the two political psychological engagement
variables (political interest and efficacy) that significantly correlated with
PP involvement were added. Presumably, these primarily reflect so-
cialisation processes preceding a social worker’s current employment. In
the third step, two variables depicting the extent of activity in political and
professional networks were entered. Then, reflecting the insight in Verba
et al. (1995) that relevant skills are honed in such networks, the two skills
variables (civic and PP) followed in the fourth step. Finally, in the fifth
step, the facilitating variable, organisational support for PP, was entered.
Table 2 presents the result of the regression analysis.

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 1902 Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan et al.

Table 2 A hierarchical regression for policy practice (PP) involvement (N ¼ 106)

Steps Predictors B SE b R2 DR2

1 (Constant) 0.37 0.03

Seniority 0.05 0.02 0.22* 0.05* 0.05*
2 (Constant) 0.02 0.10
Seniority 0.00 0.00 0.18*
Political interest 0.08 0.02 0.30**
Political efficacy 0.03 0.02 0.10 0.17*** 0.12***
3 (Constant) –0.02 0.10
Seniority 0.00 0.00 0.19*
Political interest 0.06 0.02 0.22*
Political efficacy 0.03 0.03 0.09
Activity in social work organisations 0.05 0.03 0.16
Activity in political organisations 0.02 0.02 0.10 0.21*** 0.04
4 (Constant) –0.28 0.13
Seniority 0.00 0.00 0.11
Political interest 0.03 0.03 0.13
Political efficacy –0.01 0.03 –0.04
Activity in social work organisations 0.03 0.03 0.15
Activity in political organisations 0.01 0.02 0.07
Civic skills –0.03 0.03 –0.09
PP skills 0.16 0.04 0.46*** 0.32*** 0.11***
5 (Constant) –0.33 0.11
Seniority 0.00 0.00 0.17*
Political interest 0.02 0.02 0.07
Political efficacy –0.03 0.02 –0.11
Activity in social work organisations 0.06 0.03 0.19*
Activity in political organisations 0.00 0.02 0.02
Civic skills –0.05 0.03 –0.15
PP skills 0.15 0.04 0.43***
Organisational support 0.09 0.02 0.40*** 0.45*** 0.13***

*
p < 0.05;
**
p < 0.01;
***
p < 0.001.

As can be seen, the variables explained a total of 45 per cent of the var-
iance in PP involvement. In the first step, seniority explained 5 per cent of
the variance. Its contribution was significant and the b coefficient positive,
suggesting that the more the seniority, the greater the involvement in PP.
In the second step, the two measures of psychological engagement contrib-
uted another 12 per cent to the explained variance, though only the contri-
bution of political interest was significant. Thus, the greater the political
interest, the greater the involvement in PP. Activity in networks added an
additional 4 per cent to the explained variance in the third step, but did
not contribute significantly to the explained variance. In the fourth step,
the two skills variables added 11 per cent to the variance, but only the
contribution of PP skills was statistically significant—the greater the social
worker’s PP skills, the greater the PP involvement. In the fourth step, the
b coefficient of political interest decreased when the PP skills variable was
entered. This suggests that PP skills may mediate political interest and PP
involvement. Indeed, a Sobel test showed that that PP skills mediated

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 Social Workers’ Policy Practice 1903

between political interest and PP involvement (z ¼ 3.25; p < 0.01). Greater

political interest predicts higher PP skills, which in turn predicts greater in-
volvement in PP. Finally, in the fifth step, organisational support contrib-
uted another 13 per cent to the explained variance and was statistically
significant, hence suggesting that the greater organisational support for PP,
the greater the involvement in PP.

Discussion

The first aim of the study was to explore the level of social workers’ in-
volvement in PP. The mean score of this can be evaluated as low (0.43 on
a scale ranging from 0 to 1), though this conclusion should be tempered
by the fact that no comparable data exist on the levels of involvement of
other social work groups using the same scale. However, this does confirm
previously reported low levels of social workers’ involvement in policy ac-
tivities in the course of their professional practice in Israel (Weiss-Gal,
2008) and in other countries (Koeske et al., 2005). This was surprising, as
the working assumption of this study was that social workers employed in
NPHSOs that incorporate advocacy into their mission statement would en-
gage more in PP.
One possible explanation for this relatively low level of PP involve-
ment may be that, although advocacy was part of these organisations’
formal mission statement, it is apparently a peripheral form of activity,
alongside their prime focus on service provision. Indirect support for
this explanation can be found in a study on Israeli NPHSOs in which
Schmid et al. (2008) reported that the level of engagement in social ad-
vocacy was ‘moderate and limited’ and that the average number of em-
ployees engaged in this type of activity was 1.5. In other words, the low
levels of social workers’ involvement in PP appear to reflect the periph-
eral role of advocacy in NPHSOs despite its being a formal goal.
Second, it would appear that social workers in NPHSOs hold positions
that focus primarily on the provision of welfare services. As such, the
administration in these organisations may have little reason to encourage
them to stray from their formal tasks. The finding that the level of sup-
port for PP by the organisations, as reflected in tangible artefacts, was
quite low and the strong association between organisational support and
involvement in PP reinforce these two possible explanations.
Examination of the specific types of PP activities shows that the social
workers prefer working with colleagues and service users and bringing pol-
icy problems to their attention rather than engaging in more direct and
formal activities, such as participating in policy-related committees or in
more ‘public’ interventions, such as writing about a policy problem in the
social media. This preference for a behind-the-scenes impact may reflect

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 1904 Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan et al.

the preferences of the agencies in which they are working for more dis-
creet advocacy (a finding that also emerged in Schmid et al., 2008).
The low level of involvement in PP, which stands in contrast to the
place afforded PP in social work discourse, underscores the importance
of the second aim of the study. The finding that the predictor variables
jointly explained 45 per cent of the variance in PP involvement con-
firmed theoretical assumptions that both facilitating and motivational
factors play a role in PP involvement among social workers in NPHSOs.
As was hypothesised, one of the strongest associations emerged be-
tween organisational support for PP and level of PP involvement. This
finding confirms both claims in the literature that organisations, which
employ social workers, can influence levels of engagement in policy-re-
lated activities (Schneider and Lester, 2001), and the findings of previous
studies, which found associations between organisational support for pol-
icy activities and actual engagement in it (Hardina, 1995; Ezell, 2001).
Organisations do matter, and evidently quite a bit, when it comes to PP.
Put differently, social workers are not only individual professionals seek-
ing to further policy goals, as expected of them according to their code
of ethics and professional discourse. Rather, they are representatives of
agencies which determine, in myriad ways and forms, the contours of
policy-related activities by their employees.
Yet social workers are also individuals and their involvement in PP is
contingent on what motivates them and not only where they work.
Hence, motivational factors are also important. More specifically, per-
sonal resources (PP skills, civic skills, seniority), psychological engage-
ment (political interest and political efficacy, but not partisanship) and
levels of active participation in political and professional organisations
all significantly correlated with PP involvement. Of these, political inter-
est and PP skills were the strongest. These findings validate previous
claims that variables related to political participation are also associated
with PP, albeit with some adaptations (Hoefer, 2012). These variables
included the incorporation of PP skills and seniority among the re-
sources variables, omitting some psychological engagement variables
(such as political partisanship) and including professional organisations
as recruitment networks for PP.
The dynamics affecting the motivational factors related to PP involve-
ment are not fully clarified in this study. As it did not examine social
work education’s role in affecting these motivational factors, this should
be the subject of additional studies. Similarly, further study is needed in
order to better understand why levels of activity in professional and po-
litical organisations are linked to PP. Due to its focus on PP within a
professional context, the current study did not ask social workers if they
had been directly requested to participate in PP by these networks.
The conclusion that emerges is that the explanation for PP involve-
ment by social workers must take into account both the degree to which

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 Social Workers’ Policy Practice 1905

an organisational context facilitates this type of practice and the individ-

ual factors that motivate PP involvement. This interpretation should be
seen in light of three main limitations of the study. The first is its obser-
vational cross-sectional nature, which enables us to learn about associa-
tions between variables but not about causality. The second is that the
study is based on self-reported data, which may be influenced by social
desirability. In addition, the ability of the social workers to answer ques-
tions with regard to their PP involvement through their career was inevi-
tably memory-contingent. The third limitation is the external validity of
the findings. The sample was not random. However, the construction of
the organisational sample drew upon diverse sources and it included ma-
jor NPHSOs that regard advocacy as part of their mission, employed at
least one social worker and engaged in major fields of social welfare
activity.
The findings have implications for social work practice and education.
If the social work profession seeks to adhere to its social justice mission
and to its goal of influencing social policies, professional organisations
should act in order to further this. This could include encouraging social
workers to be involved in professional and political organisations and ef-
forts to convince agencies employing social workers to regard them as
useful policy actors. In other words, social work associations can strength
both the facilitating and motivational foundations of PP. Social welfare
agencies that seek to increase PP involvement among social workers
should express their support for this type of practice through visible
artefacts (e.g. formal meetings on policy issues).
In addition, since motivational factors for PP involvement can be
influenced by education (Saulnier, 2000), major efforts should be under-
taken to equip social workers with political interest and with the skills
relevant to PP, as these emerged as the strongest motivational factors in
the study. Social work organisations and schools of social work can be
effective socialisation agents for enhancing these assets (Hamilton and
Fauri, 2001). The social work literature abounds with innovative sugges-
tions on how to increase social work students’ interest in policy issues
and to develop their PP skills (Kaufman, 2004; Gibbons and Gray, 2005;
Gregory and Holloway, 2005; Heidemann et al., 2011; DeRigne et al.,
2014). However, teaching PP skills or political interest will not suffice.
The apparent lack of willingness of agencies to enable social work to un-
dertake policy role requires that social work training systems make an
effort to teach social workers how to operate in organisations which do
not necessarily follow social work core principles and, under these cir-
cumstances, to influence policies which benefit their service users.
Finally, the study also offers directions for further research. Since re-
search in this field is just emerging, some of the measures employed in
the study (involvement in PP, PP skills and organisational support for
PP) should be tested further. Studies on social workers in other welfare

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 1906 Ateret Gewirtz-Meydan et al.

sectors and other countries will facilitate the comparison of levels of en-
gagement and the factors associated with these. Finally, also required is
an examination of the place of other facilitating factors in the social
worker organisational environment.

Acknowledgements
This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant no.
37/10).

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