Political participation is a professional responsibility in social work, yet theory driven explorations of the factors affecting such engagement among practitioners remain underexplored. This study applies two complementary theoretical frameworks, the Civic Voluntarism Model (CVM) and Converse’s (Ideology and Discontent, pp. 206-261, 1964) theory of belief systems, to examine the predictors of political activity among licensed social workers. A cross-sectional online survey was administered in 2017 to a random sample of licensed social workers in 24 states and the District of Columbia (N = 2,350). Measures included political ideology, social action intention, political party affiliation, geographic region, residential setting, and political activity. Multiple and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to assess the relative contribution of these factors to political participation. Political ideology and social action intention emerged as the only significant predictors of political activity. Adding political party affiliation, region, and residential setting resulted in minimal and non-significant increases in explained variance. Together, political ideology and social action intention accounted for just over 21% of the variance in political activity. Findings indicate that political participation among licensed social workers is shaped primarily by internal orientations rather than by contextual location or partisan affiliation. Integrating CVM and Converse’s framework suggests that sustained political engagement depends on both participatory capacity and ideological coherence. These results have implications for social work education and professional development aimed at strengthening political engagement within the profession.
