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Two major forms of organizational trust are supervisor trust and management trust. Guided by the job demand-resources model, this exploratory study examined how the job demand variables of role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, and fear of being victimized at work and the job resource variables of instrumental communication, job autonomy, job variety, and quality training were linked to both forms of organizational trust among staff at a private U.S. prison. Results showed that workplace variables predicted both types of trust and were generally stronger predictors than personal attributes. Moreover, resources played a greater role than job demands in shaping both supervisor and management trust. Among the demands, only role conflict was a significant negative predictor of supervisor trust and management trust. Instrumental communication, job autonomy, and job variety were significant positive predictors of supervisor trust. Job autonomy and job variety both had significant positive associations with management trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private prison staff are a valuable resource, and they can be affected by various workplace variables. The effects of organizational justice on counterproductive staff behaviors in a sample of correctional staff at a private prison were examined using organizational-justice theory. Specifically, the association of distributive and procedural justice with turnover intent, sick-leave views, and absenteeism were tested while controlling for demographic characteristics (position, gender, age, tenure, and race/ethnicity). OLS regression models show that procedural justice was the strongest predictor and was negatively associated with all three measures of counterproductive behaviors; distributive justice was only predictive of turnover intent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correctional staff are sometimes in fear of being injured on the job. Concerns about issues relating to inmate medical care could be related to feeling at risk on the job for staff. The current study explored how perceived inmate medical care issues were related to fear of being at risk on the job among staff at a large Southern US jail. The provided survey asked about staff about their concerns of being at risk and medical views dealing with if infectious diseases are handled correctly, if quality medical care was provided to inmates, if staff responded in a timely manner, if there was a high turnover of medical staff, and if inmate privacy rates put staff at risk. In a multivariate regression analysis, a view that inmate infectious diseases are handled correctly and quality medical care is provided were significantly related to lower levels fear of being in danger from the job, while the view that inmate medical privacy rights placed staff at risk had a positive effect. Views that staff respond quickly to inmate medical needs and that there is a high level of medical staff turnover both had nonsignificant effects on fear of being at risk at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational trust is an important workplace factor for organizations and their employees. There are different types of organizational trust, with coworker, supervisor and management trust being major ones. Yet, limited research has examined how organizational trust is associated with the work attitudes of correctional officers, such as job involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The current study explored how coworker, supervisor and management trust were related to the job involvement, job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment of Chinese correctional officers at two prisons in southeast China. Management trust had significant positive associations with involvement, satisfaction and commitment. The current results indicate the need to enhance management trust among the studied Chinese correctional officers to raise the three work attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research on organizational justice views indicates that distributive (i.e. perceived fairness of outcomes) and procedural justice (i.e. perceived fairness of procedures to reach outcomes) are linked to salient correctional staff outcomes, such as job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and life satisfaction; however, limited research investigates the relationships between workplace factors and the organizational justice views among prison staff. The current study investigated the relationships between organizational structure variables of instrumental communication, formalization, integration, and input into organizational decision-making with the procedural and distributive views of staff at a state-run U.S. prison. Data was from 257 staff who worked at a prison holding medium- and high-security convicted male offenders. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis indicated formalization, integration, and input were significantly positively correlated with procedural justice. Instrumental communication, however, was not significantly correlated with procedural justice. Input was a significant positive predictor of distributive justice, while instrumental communication, formalization, and integration were not significant predictors. Considerably more variance was explained in procedural justice compared to distributive justice views. The findings suggest that correctional administrators should be aware that input into decision-making is associated with prison staff’s views of both distributive and procedural justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee perceptions of fairness are a critical component of organizational justice, and empirical studies have shown that both distributive and procedural justice, the major dimensions of organizational justice, play a role in work performance and life satisfaction. In this study, we surveyed perceptions of organizational justice from 120 Nigerian prison staff and examined how it impacted their life satisfaction. The findings indicated both procedural and distributive justice were associated with higher levels of life satisfaction. Line staff had lower life satisfaction, but it was the only demographic variable to have a significant effect. As the costs of acting in a procedurally fair manner are minimal, interventions that increase perceptions of procedural justice are likely to improve staff's life satisfaction, a result that has clearly positive consequences for both employers and employees. Improving distributive outcomes, such as pay and benefits, are costlier but should also result in improved life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For prisons and jails to run effectively and efficiently, correctional officers need to follow institutional policies and rules. Failure to follow the rules could lead to deviant acts of officer-on-inmate brutality, inappropriate staff-inmate relationships, as well as a variety of other unprofessional behaviors that could undermine the prison regime. In this exploratory study, we collected 501 questionnaires from prison officers in Texas to examine the dynamics of rule-following. Using the job demands-resources model to guide in the interpretation of our analyses, we found that older officers, as well as female officers, were significantly more likely than their peers to follow institutional rules. Officers with high levels of family and supervisor support were also likely to follow the rules; however, respondents who experienced role strain were significantly less likely to adhere to agency policies and procedures. Our findings have important implications for the contemporary management of prisons and jails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current research study examined the effects of organizational justice on burnout among U.S. social workers in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. Specifically, the effects of perceptions of distributive and procedural justice on the burnout sub-domains of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were explored (the third dimension of feeling ineffective at work was not measured). Low levels of distributive and/or procedural justice should lead to psychological strain for social workers, which can result in job burnout. Of the 450 distributed surveys, 255 usable ones were returned. Both distributive and procedural justice adversely affected the two burnout sub-domains of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization. Distributive justice had larger sized effects on emotional exhaustion compared to procedural justice. Distributive justice represents outcomes such as pay, benefit, and promotions, which tend to have a significant impact on social workers, who are often paid less than other professional occupations, resulting in psychological strain and emotional burnout. Both distributive and procedural justice had similar sized effects on depersonalization burnout. The current results underscore the need for organizational interventions by improving perceptions of distributive and procedural justice in order to reduce burnout. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fairness is a core concept in U.S. society, including in the workplace. Organizational justice theory holds that workers expect to be treated in a fair and just manner and that higher levels of organizational justice usually result in lower levels of withdrawal work behaviors, such as absenteeism and turnover intent, while lower levels of organizational justice perceptions are associated with higher engagement in withdrawal behaviors. The current study examined the relationship between organizational justice views, specifically distributive and procedural justice, and turnover intent, while controlling for the personal characteristics of age, gender, position, tenure, educational level, and marital status and the work variables of job stress and job involvement. Using the responses from 322 employees from a state prison located in the Southern region of the United States, procedural justice was observed to have a significant negative association with turnover intent, but distributive justice had a nonsignificant relationship. Job stress was associated with a significantly higher level of turnover intent, while job involvement was significantly associated with lower turnover intent. Among the personal characteristics, only age had a significant association, with older workers expressing lower turnover intent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explored how three key work environment variables – input into decision-making, instrumental communication, and perceived quality of supervision – affected views of distributive and procedural justice among correctional staff (n= 322) at an unusual Southern prison. Results supported the premise that work environment variables influence the organizational justice perceptions of correctional staff; however, the effects of work environment on organizational justice perceptions differed, as only four of the six hypotheses were supported by the multivariate regression results. Specifically, input into decision-making and quality of supervision had positive effects on both distributive and procedural justice, while instrumental communication did not have a statistically significant relationship with either. The findings indicate that correctional administrators should focus on input into decision-making and quality of supervision in order to increase staff perceptions of organizational justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correctional officers are a valuable and expensive resource for prisons. Working as a correctional officer is a unique experience; it involves controlling incarcerated individuals, and this results in demands that can wear on officers, increasing chances of suffering depression. Social support has been postulated to help buffer the negative effects of working in a prison and reduce depressive symptomatology. Using data from 501 correctional officers employed in a Southern prison system, this study examined the relationship between the three types of social support – family, coworker, and supervisor – on depression symptoms measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CESD) scale. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression results indicated both family support and supervisor support were significantly related to the level of depression symptoms; coworker support, however, had a nonsignificant association. The results indicate efforts should be made to raise family support and supervisor support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public trust in the police is an important element of a healthy democracy. Concurrently, trust within the workplace is essential for a healthy organization, including the police. The main forms of organizational trust are management, supervisor, and coworker trust. However, there has been little research on how organizational trust affects police officers. This study examines the effects of these three forms of organizational trust on the job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment of police officers. The sample of 827 officers was drawn from two districts in Haryana, India. The findings indicate that all three forms of trust play an important role in improving the work attitudes of Indian police officers and that personal characteristics account for a lesser variance than the trust variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only one study among U.S. prison staff has explored the effects of work–family conflict and job burnout. To replicate the research to determine whether the results vary by nation, this study examined the effects of four types of work–family conflict (strain-based, time-based, behavior-based and family-based conflict) on three dimensions of job burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and feeling ineffective at work) among Nigerian correctional staff. Strain- and behavior-based conflict had significant positive effects on emotional exhaustion, but time- and family-based conflict did not. Family-based conflict was the only type of domain spillover with significant positive effects on depersonalization. Behavior-based conflict was the only type of work–family conflict with significant positive effects on feeling ineffective at work. Time-based and strain-based conflict were highly related to one another, which was attributed to time-based conflict being a contributor to strain-based conflict for Nigerian prison staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correctional institutions are manpower-intensive organizations, and organizational commitment is important for their successful functioning. This study uses the job demands model to examine effect of workplace variables on organizational commitment. Using a sample of 163 correctional officers from a prison in Haryana State, India, we find that job demands (fear of being hurt and work and role overload) have no significant effect of organizational commitment. All four components of job resources (instrumental communication, job autonomy, quality of supervision, and job variety) were found to be positively and significantly associated with organizational commitment. The study highlights the importance of adequate knowledge of job resources in trying to raise the affective commitment of correctional officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prison work is inherently demanding, stressful, and frustrating. The literature supports that work-family conflict (including time-, strain-, behaviour-, and family-based conflict) occurs among prison staff. The psychological strains emanating from these conflicts affect not only staff members' work performance, but also their relationships with family and friends. This study sought to fill gaps in the literature in both practical and theoretical ways by exploring the effects of work-family conflict among 120 Nigerian prison staff. Multivariate regression analysis of survey data indicated that strain- and behaviour-based conflict showed significant, positive effects on job stress; however, time- and family-based conflict did not. Overall, the findings of the current study generally support the assertion that work-family conflict is a job stressor associated with prison staff stress and that strain- and behaviour-based conflict are stressors linked to higher job stress among staff in different nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study sets out to examine the effects of job demands and job resources on the job involvement of Nigerian correctional services staff. Job demands make the job more difficult and reduce positive work outcomes such as job involvement. Job resources make the job more pleasant and aid employees in doing their work, leading to increases in positive work outcomes, such as job involvement. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of survey data from 120 correctional staff in a medium-security correctional center provides partial support for the job demands-resources model on job involvement for Nigerian correctional staff, with job resources showing greater effects than job demands in building job involvement. Specifically, the job demand variables were fear of victimization on the job and role overload, and the job resource variables were job variety, quality training, and job autonomy. Quality training and job autonomy had statistically significant effects on job involvement in a multivariate OLS regression analysis. Fear of victimization, role overload, and job variety had nonsignificant effects in the regression analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Views of organizational justice among correctional staff (i.e. whether they perceive that their employing organization treats them fairly) impact both staff and prisons. The two major dimensions of organizational justice are distributive justice (fairness of outcomes) and procedural justice (fairness of processes and procedures). Limited research among correctional staff in the U.S. suggests that views of distributive and procedural justice spillover, which results in a strain-based form of work-family conflict. An ordinary least squares regression analysis of data collected from two prisons in southern China indicated that distributive justice had significant negative effects on the strain-based form of work-family conflict; however, contrary to findings among U.S. staff, procedural justice did not have a signification relationship with strain-based conflict. It appears that the connection between views of organizational justice and strain-based work-family conflict might vary by nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The bulk of correctional staff life satisfaction research has focused on staff in Western nations, particularly the United States. The current study examined how workplace variables are related to life satisfaction among Nigerian correctional staff, and it used the Job Demands-Resources Model as a theoretical framework. This model postulates that workplace variables can be broken into job demands and resources. Job demands are workplace variables that cause strain. Job resources are workplace variables that help staff be productive and successful and help buffer job demands. Job demands tend to be associated with negative outcomes, such as job stress, and job resources tend to be associated to positive outcomes, such as life satisfaction. Data for this study came from staff at a prison located in southeast Nigeria. The job demand variables examined were role overload and fear of victimization at work, and the job resource variables were quality of training, job autonomy, and job variety, with the outcome variable being life satisfaction. In a multivariate Ordinary Least Squares regression analysis, fear of victimization had a nonsignificant relationship with life satisfaction, role overload had a negative relationship, and quality training, job autonomy, and job variety each had a positive associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational trust includes both supervisor trust and management trust. Additionally, the three main work attitudes are job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The objective of this study was to explore the effects of the two types of trust on the three work attitudes with data from a survey of 255 U.S. social workers. In multivariate ordinary least squares regression, the effects of the two forms of organizational trust varied across the three work attitudes. Only management trust had a significant positive effect on job involvement, while both forms of trust had positive relationships with job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. For job satisfaction, the effect sizes of both forms of trust were similar; however, for organizational commitment, management trust's effect was far greater than the effects of supervisor trust. The current findings support the overall contention that supervisor and management trust play important roles in shaping social worker job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and they also underscore the need for improving perceptions of supervisor and management trust among social workers. Future longitudinal research will be able to demonstrate the causal process of the effects of trust on the three work attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explored the effects of coworker, supervisor, and management trust on the job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of Nigerian prison staff working in a prison in southeast Nigeria. In multivariate regression, only management trust was a significant positive predictor of job involvement. Supervisor and management trust, but not coworker trust, had significant positive associations with organizational commitment. All three dimensions of organizational trust had significant positive relationships with job satisfaction. These results suggest that both supervisory and management trust are important to correctional officers in Nigeria, which are similar to empirical research studies in the United States. The effects of trust may be universal among correctional staff across different cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organisational commitment is an important concept in the field of corrections. The current study examined how workplace variables affected commitment among Nigerian correctional staff and compared the results to the findings of past studies of U.S. correctional staff. Specifically, the effects of the workplace variables of input into decision-making, quality training, job variety, quality supervision, perceived dangerousness of the job, and role overload were examined. Input, quality training, job variety, and quality supervision had significant positive effects on commitment. Dangerousness and overload had nonsignificant effects. As with past U.S. studies, the current findings indicate commitment to the organisation is stronger when staff are treated in a positive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private security staff play an important role in protecting society, including those who work in private prisons. Working in a private prison is a demanding job. Staff are responsible to ensure that the correctional facility is safe, secure, and humane. Past research has found that organizational trust, in terms of supervisor and management trust, influences private prison staff in many outcome areas, such as job involvement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress, feeling at risk at work, and job burnout; however, there is a dearth of research on how workplace variables may contribute to organizational trust. The current study examined how the major forms of social support (family, coworkers, supervisor, and management) were related to supervisor trust and management trust among 160 staff at a private U.S. prison. Based on ordinary least squares (OLS) multivariate regression, the results indicated coworker, supervisor, and management support each had significant positive effects on supervisor trust, with supervisor support having the largest effect. In another OLS multivariate regression analysis, family, supervisor, and management support had significant positive effects on management trust, with management support having the largest effect. The findings suggest that private prison administrators should consider increasing all four forms of social support in order to raise both supervisor and management trust. It would be a valuable investment in staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some correctional officers end their careers in disgrace when they engage in acts of cruelty against the very inmates they are paid to protect. In the present study, we administered 501 questionnaires to prison guards within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in order to identify characteristics of officers who may possess attitudes favorable to the mistreatment of inmates. We found that younger, male officers, who reported being dissatisfied with their jobs, were at a higher risk of ignoring wrongful acts against prisoners. Officers who lacked family support at home, as well as those who lacked supervisory support at work, were also more likely to tolerate acts of abuse or incivility toward offenders. Finally, officers who perceived their coworkers were engaging in staff-inmate boundary violations were more likely to accept the maltreatment of inmates than their peers. We posit these prison guards, who sensed their coworkers were crossing over to the offenders' side, may have turned a blind eye toward acts of officer-on-inmate maltreatment in an attempt to demarcate a line between the keeper and the kept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staff are the most vital resource for any correctional facility. As corrections is a very expensive budget item in the U.S., finding and keeping dedicated employees is essential. Organizational commitment refers the bond between correctional staff and their institution. A strong bond is essential for the safety and security of both employees and inmates, as well as ensuring that the institution runs effectively. This review explores past research on three different types of organizational commitment (affective, moral, and continuance), in order to summarize past results and to reveal areas remaining unexplored. This paper examines both the antecedents and outcomes of organizational commitment. Through a systematic review of past studies, we have identified both positive and negative workplace factors that influence organizational commitment. In addition, we report how organizational commitment affects various outcomes, such as burnout and turnover intent. Understanding how to increase staff commitment can provide a blueprint for administrators to enhance correctional operations and employee satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trust is crucial to the proper functioning of organizations. Trust has been examined at many levels, and researchers have recently expanded the study of trust to include areas ranging from the neuroscience of trust to the influence of institutional trust on product sales and marketing. While academic interest in trust has grown, research on trust and job stress among correctional employees is rare. The current study evaluated the relationships between three types of trust (coworker, supervisor, and management trust) and correctional staff job stress. Using staff survey data from a Southern prison, two multivariate OLS regression equations were estimated – one for all surveyed staff and a second for the subgroup of correctional officers – in order to determine how the three types of organizational trust related to job stress. Results indicated that trust in coworkers mattered for correctional officers only and that trust in supervisors and management had a greater influence on job stress both for all correctional staff and for the subgroup of correctional officers. Specifically, those with higher levels of supervisor and management trust reported lower levels of job stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizational justice is important for most employees. Distributive justice (fairness of outcomes) and procedural justice (fairness of processes to reach outcomes) are two major dimensions of organizational justice. Limited research has examined how perceptions of the distributive and the procedural types of justice are linked with job stress of correctional staff, and the vast majority of this limited research has been conducted with U.S. staff. The current study examined how these dimensions of organizational justice are associated with job stress among Nigerian correctional staff. Findings from a survey of 120 staff members from a correctional institution in Southeast Nigeria showed a significant relationship between organizational justice and job stress. Contrary to a similar study in the United States that found that distributive justice had more impact on correctional job stress, employee perceptions that organizational processes and procedures were fair and transparent were associated with a reduced level of stress in Nigeria. One implication of the study findings is that the impact of the distributive and procedural types of justice on staff morale and stress may be attributed more to environmental context and situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable empirical research has shown that work–family conflict has a negative effect on the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of United States correctional staff. This study is the first to examine the effect of work–family conflict on job satisfaction and organizational commitment for staff at Chinese prisons. Findings from ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analyses indicated that strain-based conflict, behavior-based conflict and family-on-work conflict had negative effects on the job satisfaction of Chinese prison staff. Also, strain-based conflict and behavior-based conflict had negative effects on organizational commitment. Overall, the results support the conclusion that work–family conflict was generally perceived as stressful by Chinese prison staff and negatively impacted their job satisfaction and organizational commitment, as has been found among United States staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The job characteristics model was used to explain job satisfaction at a large southern prison. The effects of job variety, role clarity, views of supervision, views of training, perceived dangerousness of the job, and job autonomy on job satisfaction were studied. Using data from 322 staff members, the study found positive job characteristics (i.e., job variety, supervision, training, and lower perceived dangerousness of job) were associated with greater job satisfaction. Job autonomy was non-significant. Job variety, quality of supervision, and training views were positively associated with job satisfaction for all staff and security officers, whereas dangerousness of job was negatively associated. Role clarity mattered for all staff, but not security officers. Reasons for both significant and non-significant relationships were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In private correctional institutions, staff are an important resource, since they are tasked with a myriad of duties necessary to operate a humane, safe, and secure facility. As political demands for budgetary restraint increase, it is paramount that administrators find and retain good staff. Staff retention is influenced by workplace factors. This study explored the four types o work-family (time-based conflict, strain-based conflict, behavior-based conflict, and family-based conflict) and their effects on job involvement. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression results indicated that age, position (correctional officers) and time-based conflict had negative effects on job involvement, and family-based conflict had positive effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing body of research that has explored how workplace factors affect prison staff, although empirical research specifically aimed at how organizational justice affects correctional job involvement is lacking. This study examined how organizational justice's two primary dimensions of distributive justice and procedural justice were associated with job involvement, an important work attitude. Self-reported survey data was collected from 322 staff at a large Southern prison. Ordinary least squares regression analysis indicated that both distributive and procedural justice had significant positive associations with job involvement. The results suggest prison administrators need to be aware that organizational justice is important and that improving either distributive or procedural justice should increase job involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most correctional officers adhere to strong organizational norms that emphasize the importance of following rules. Some, however, break the custodial frame and behave inappropriately with inmates. Guided by Robert K. Merton's social structure and anomie theory, we examined 501 questionnaires collected from correctional officers within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. When correctional officers perceive that their coworkers engage in boundary violations with inmates, job satisfaction is significantly lower. Our novel application of Merton's framework makes a contribution to the correctional job satisfaction literature and has important implications for the contemporary development and significance of social structure and anomie theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of this writing, South Korea (officially, the Republic of Korea) is an abolitionist-in-practice nation; capital punishment is legal, but no death sentences have been carried out since a moratorium was enacted in 1997. Public support for the death penalty has decreased over time; however, the factors that determine support for or opposition to the death penalty of the South Korean general public are largely unknown. Using survey data from a nationwide sample of 416 respondents, this study examined the potential predictors for public attitudes towards capital punishment support. A majority of survey respondents (83%) supported the death penalty, a higher percentage than recent surveys of the South Korean general public. The deterrence and retribution perspectives were positively related to death penalty support, while crime severity, neighbourhood safety, the brutalisation effect, and innocence were negatively related. This study provides the first multivariate analysis of factors associated with South Korean attitudes towards the death penalty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The death penalty is used as a criminal sanction in 58 out of 193 United Nations countries across the globe, yet the vast majority of research on capital punishment views has been conducted on Western nations, particularly the United States. This study examined the level of death penalty support among college students from both India and the United States. U.S. students expressed greater support for capital punishment compared to their Indian counterparts. In addition, men in both countries were more likely to support the death penalty. The reasons for supporting or opposing capital punishment also varied by gender and nation. Men expressed greater support for reasons of retribution, deterrence, and incapacitation, whereas women were more likely to oppose capital punishment for the reasons of rehabilitation, innocence, and morality. There were differences by nation on rationales to support or oppose capital punishment. Except for incapacitation, Indian students were more polarized in their reasons to support or oppose the death penalty. The findings support the contention that gender and culture play a role in the capital punishment views of the respondents in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working in prisons is a demanding career. While a growing number of studies have explored the predictors of job stress, job involvement, and job satisfaction, very few studies have examined how job stress, job involvement, and job satisfaction effect prison staff life satisfaction. Moreover, past studies on prison staff life satisfaction have all been conducted among those working in the United States. The current study examined how job stress, job involvement and job satisfaction were associated with satisfaction with life among surveyed staff at two Chinese prisons. Job involvement and job satisfaction had positive effects on life satisfaction, while job stress had a negative effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correctional staff job satisfaction is critical for the staff’s well-being and low turnover. This study’s focus was identifying variables that predicted job satisfaction for Nigerian correctional staff and comparing the findings to past studies of US correctional staff job satisfaction. One hundred and twenty correctional staff from Nigeria were surveyed. The personal characteristics of age, gender, and tenure were not significant predictors of satisfaction in the multivariate analysis. Similar to finding for US correctional staff, job autonomy, quality of supervision, and instrumental communication all had significant positive effects on Nigerian correctional staff job satisfaction. Contrary to previous findings on US prison staff, neither job variety or role overload were significant predictors of Nigerian staff job satisfaction. Other factors may account for this discrepancy, including working conditions, the socio-economic environment and availability of job opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing from person–environment fit theory, the current study adds to recent empirical inquires that have considered how workplace factors affect jail staff. In doing so, the focus is on how perceptions of pay fairness effect the job stress, job involvement, and organizational commitment of jail personnel. Utilizing survey data from a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida, the results of multivariate analyses reveal that staff that hold more favorable perceptions of pay fairness are more involved in their jobs and more committed to the overall organization. The implications of these findings for correctional research and practice are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have revealed that some, but not all, jail custody officers fear workplace victimization. The job demands-resources theoretical model holds that job demands result in strain, increasing the chances of negative outcomes, such as job burnout, decreased job satisfaction, and fear of being harmed on the job. This framework also contends that job resources help reduce psychological strain, and, in turn, reduce negative outcomes, including fear of victimization at work. Survey results from 587 custody officers from a large county correctional system in Florida were analyzed in order to determine how various workplace demand and resource variables were related to perceived danger at work. Our multivariate analytical models revealed that the resource variables of instrumental communication, perceptions that infectious disease among inmates being properly handled, perceptions that inmates were properly controlled, perceptions that security was proper, and supervisor support were related to decreased perceptions of danger, while formalization (a resource variable) and role strain (a demand variable) were related to increased perceptions of danger. Overall, there was partial support for the job demands-resources model, with some variables having significant effects and others not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The career stage theory postulates that employees go through different career stages, and each career stage has different effects on various outcomes, such as job satisfaction. There has been empirical support for the career stage theory from other disciplines, but there has been limited research relating to this theory to corrections. To expand the literature, the current study examined whether different career stages were significant predictors of job satisfactions, while including the personal characteristics and the workplace place variables among Texas correctional officers. The results supported the career state theory: job satisfaction was highest during the entry stage (0–2 years), but was lowest during the second career stage (2–5 years). In career stages three (5–15 years) and four (16+ years), job satisfaction rose. Possible interventions that correctional administrators can undertake to encourage job satisfaction from their staff during the second career stage are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examined how personal and workplace variables were related to organizational commitment among staff working at a large Southern prison. The personal variables were gender, age, position, tenure, educational level, and supervisory status. The workplace variables were assessment of training, job variety, role clarity, input into decision-making, and instrumental communication. The results indicate workplace variables play a greater role in shaping affective commitment of surveyed Southern prison staff than do personal variables. The personal variables explained only 10% of the variance in the commitment index, while workplace factors accounted for approximately 59% of the variance and were significant determinants of organizational commitment among the respondents. In the multivariate regression analysis, age, assessment of training, job variety, role clarity, input into decision-making, and instrumental communication all had positive associations with commitment. Educational level had a negative relationship with commitment. Implications of these findings for policy and future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Job stress, which has been found to have numerous negative effects on U.S. correctional staff, occurs as a result of stressors in the work environment. Recent research in the U.S. suggests that work–family conflict (e.g. time-based conflict, strain-based conflict, behavior-based conflict, and family-based conflict) may contribute to job stress for correctional staff. This exploratory study examined how different dimensions of work–family conflict were associated with job stress by surveying 322 staff at 2 Chinese prisons, 1 for male inmates and 1 for female inmates, in Guangzhou. An Ordinary Least Squares regression equation was computed with the job stress index as the dependent variable, and the personal characteristics (i.e. age, tenure, gender, educational level, and marital status) and the four work–family conflict variables as the independent variables. The independent variables explained about 49% of the observed variance in the job stress variable. The personal characteristics, time-based conflict, and family-on-work conflict did not have a statistically significant association with job stress in the multivariate analysis, but both strain-based conflict and behavior-based conflict had negative associations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The use of private corrections has grown to over 400 facilities in the United States. The staff are of particular importance in facilities operating on a tight profit margin. Maximizing profitability depends upon minimizing workplace factors that detract from staff performance and/or create costly strain. This study explored organizational trust and its link to fear of being hurt at work. A path model was tested to explore how various workplace variables relate to perceptions of organizational trust as well as how personal characteristics and organizational trust are associated with fear of injury. The results indicate that organizational trust appears to be one variable that influences staff perceptions of fear of injury. Increased levels of organizational trust decrease the fear of being injured at work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has tested gender differences in perceptions, responses, intentions, and behaviors of correctional staff; however, no published study has tested whether the effects of social supports on work stress and job satisfaction differ by gender. The current study attempts to expand the literature by examining whether supervisor support, peer support, and family support, along with other workplace variables (role problems and dangerousness of the job), differ in their relationships with work stress and job satisfaction according to the gender of 501 correctional officers in Texas. Results of the Equality of Regression Coefficient Test revealed that the different forms of social support and the selected workplace variables had statistically similar associations with work stress and job satisfaction across gender, except for role stress on job satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private security personnel play an important role in protecting society, including personnel who work in private prisons. Staff are critical to ensure the private prison is operated in a safe, secure, and humane manner. This study, a survey of 160 staff members at a private prison located in a Midwestern state, examined the impact that support by management, coworkers, family, and supervisors has on role stress, work–family conflict, and turnover intent. Each of the four support measures was hypothesized to have negative associations on role stress, work–family conflict, and turnover intent. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis revealed that management and supervisor support was associated with reduced role stress, work–family conflict, and turnover intent; coworker support was related to lower role stress and turnover intent; and family support was not found to have a significant association with role stress, work–family conflict, nor turnover intent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new spiritual understanding commonly known as the Three Principles proposes that mindfulness/flow/mental health is people’s most natural state and can be realized and sustained by everyone via insights gained through understanding three spiritual principles—Universal Mind, Consciousness, and Thought. We test this proposition for people exposed to the intervention grounded in these principles. The results appear to support our prediction that insight regarding “thought recognition” and/or “innate health via a clear mind” gained through understanding these spiritual principles will show a significant positive relationship with mindful attention, mindful acceptance, flow experience, and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Law enforcement is often described as a challenging occupation, and working in law enforcement can result in work–family conflict. This exploratory study was undertaken to examine how the different dimensions of work–family conflict are related to job stress among Indian police officers. There are four major dimensions of work–family conflict: strain-based, behavior-based, time-based, and family-based. Data was collected from a survey of police officers in the Sonipat and Rohtak districts of the Indian state of Haryana. Bivariate results revealed that an increase in any one of the dimensions of work–family conflict was associated with increases in stress from work. Multivariate analysis, however, revealed only three of the four dimensions of work–family conflict had a significant association with job stress. Specifically, strain-based conflict, behavior-based conflict, and family-based conflict were significantly associated with higher levels of job stress. These findings provide support for the job strain model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crime reporting by citizens has important implications for police effectiveness in crime control and community safety, yet research on immigrants’ willingness to report crime to the police is very limited. Relying on a purposive and convenience sample of 202 Bangladeshi immigrants from six areas in the New York City, this study examined Bangladeshi immigrants’ willingness to report crime and factors that may affect Bangladeshi immigrants’ willingness to report crime. Results showed that a great majority of the participants reported that they were willing to report crime to the police, and there was a high level of concordance between the participants’ crime-reporting intentions and behaviours. Both fear of crime and general satisfaction with the police were positively related to the Bangladeshi immigrants’ willingness to report crime. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Public perceptions of the police have important implications for both scholars and police administrators. While a growing body of research deals with perceptions of the police, including immigrants' perceptions, there is a need to explore the factors associated with different immigrant groups' perceptions of the police. One group that has not been previously studied is Bangladeshi immigrants, a relatively new but rapidly growing group in the USA. Relying on a purposive convenience sample of 202 Bangladeshi immigrants from six areas in the New York City, this study examined factors that affected Bangladeshi immigrants' positive view on the police. Bangladeshi women held greater positive views, as did participants who had a friend or family member who worked in law enforcement. Increases in educational level were associated with more positive views on the police, while recent contact with the police was linked with less favorable views. Finally, feeling that contact with the police would place a person in danger and that involvement with the police would lead to deportation were both associated with less positive perceptions of the police. Research and policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Work-family conflict occurs when the domains of work and home spill over into one another leading to conflict, which is a real possibility for the unique occupation of policing. Work on family conflict, a subdomain of work-family conflict, occurs when issues at work spill over impacting home life. One form of work on family conflict is strain-based conflict, which is when work problems results in conflict at home, such being irritable at home or arguments with family members and friends. This study examined the relationship between organizational structure variables and work on family conflict strain among Indian police officers. India is the most populous democracy in the world, but little has been published in Western journals of how workplace variables maybe related to work on family strain among Indian officers. Among the organizational structure variables, instrumental communication, organizational support, formalization, distributive justice, and procedural justice each had negative relationships with work on family strain. Input into decision-making had a nonsignificant association. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The literature suggests that social support, in general, is linked to positive outcomes among correctional staff, but the different types of social support may differ in their effects. Using survey data from staff working at a privately-owned, maximum security prison for juveniles sentenced as adults, this study analyzes three intra-organizational supports, administrative, supervisory, and coworker, and one extra-organizational form, family/friends support, as antecedents of job stress, job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Personal variables serve as controls. Administrative and supervisory support are inversely related to job stress, while job involvement is affected positively by supervisory support and negatively by family/friends support. All three intra-organizational forms of support are significant antecedents of job satisfaction and organizational commitment however family/friends support is not. These findings hold implications for improving job outcomes among correctional staff and for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]