Bio:

Dr. Preston’s scholarly interests include work stress, work motivation, and managerial behavior.  His research focuses on enhancing the well-being and practice effectiveness of direct service and managerial staff in not-for-profit and public sector organizations.  Dr. Preston has over ten years of professional experience in the fields of child welfare, public assistance, and mental health.  His practice experience as an administrator, manager, supervisor, and direct-service worker encompasses public sector, private sector, and not-for-profit human service organizations in Arizona and Alaska.

Research Interests:

• Child welfare
• Leadership, human services management, and public management
• Management training
• Organizational behavior and theory
• Work stress and work motivation

Current Grants & Projects:

• Work stress in county-based public welfare and child welfare agencies
• Methodological rigor in social work management research

Awards:

• 2007-08 Best Dissertation Award, Department of Public Administration and Policy, University at Albany, State University of New York
• 2007-08 Best Dissertation Award Nominee, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM)

Recent Publications & Presentations:

Journal Articles
Preston, M. S. (accepted for publication). Does Office Location Influence the Work Actions of Public Sector Human Service Managers?: The effects of rural practice settings on core managerial role competencies. American Review of Public Administration.

Preston, M. S. (2008) The Direct Effects of Field of Practice on Core Managerial Role Competencies: A Study Across Three Types of Public Sector Human Service Agencies. Administration in Social Work, 32(3), 63-83.

Preston, M. S. (2005). Child Welfare Management Training: Towards a Pedagogically Sound Curriculum. Administration in Social Work, 29(4), 89-111.

Preston, M. S. (2004). Mandatory Management Training for Newly Hired Child Welfare Supervisors: A Divergence Between Management Research and Training Practice?" Administration in Social Work, 28(2), 81-97.

Preston, M. S. (in review). Karasek’s job demands-control model: The strain-buffering effects of instrumental feedback as a second-order moderator. Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Presentations
Preston, M. S. (2008, June). Job Demands, Job Control, and Feedback Seeking: The strain-buffering effects of proactive behavior. 2008 International Work, Well-being, and Performance Conference, Sheffield, England.

Preston, M. S. (2007, August) Karasek's Job Demands-Control Model: Is instrumental feedback the missing second-order moderator? Academy of Management Conference, Philadelphia, PA.

Preston, M. S. (2006, February) The Impact of Field of Practice on Human Service Managerial Activity: Testing Yukl’s Tri-dimensional Leadership Theory. Council on Social Work Education Conference, Chicago, IL.

Last updated April 3, 2008.