Supervisor style as a predictor of counseling supervision relationship quality and supervisee satisfaction: perceptions of U.S. and South Korean supervisees

This study tested a model of counseling supervisory process and outcome across two cultural contexts: one in the United States (U.S.) and one in South Korea. We hypothesized that (1) the supervisory alliance and supervisee nondisclosure would mediate the relationship between supervisor style and supervisee satisfaction and (2) the path coefficients of the model in the U.S. samples and South Korean samples would differ. Participants included 299 U.S. supervisees (mean age 30.25 years) and 334 South Korean supervisees (mean age 34.42 years), all of whom were engaged in counseling supervision. Self-reported measures were used to collect the data by using both online survey and paper–pencil survey. Results of structural equation modeling demonstrated that both the proposed model and path coefficients were statistically significant. In addition, we identified a stronger relationship between the supervisory working alliance and both supervisee nondisclosures and supervisee satisfaction in the U.S. sample in comparison to the South Korean sample. The attractive, interpersonally sensitive, and collaborative supervisory styles were differentially related to both supervisory alliance and supervisee satisfaction across U.S. and Korean samples. Implications for counseling supervision, training, and research are described.