Search

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]

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) have been the subject of considerable research attention within business organizations. Much less attention has been directed at OCBs within criminal justice agencies, and even less research has addressed OCBs within police organizations. The present study uses survey data collected from 829 police officers in India to assess the antecedents of several dimensions of OCBs. Unlike most prior research, we use a path model in an effort to disentangle the direct and indirect effects of organizational justice, job demands and job resources, organizational justice, stress, and work attitudes on OCBs while controlling for officer personal characteristics. Our findings indicate that job satisfaction and organizational commitment are strong predictors of OCBs and that they mediate the effects of job stress, which did not directly influence OCBs. In addition, organizational justice factors exerted inconsistent effects on OCBs. Strategies for increasing the likelihood that officers will engage in OCBs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the factors that lead to correctional officer (CO) turnover intent is vital. Using a gendered career stage model, this study focused on male and female CO similarities and differences in workplace variable effects on turnover intent across career stages. The results indicated that organizational commitment was a consistent predictor of turnover intent for all correctional officers at all career stages, and, at various career stages, quality of supervision, coworker support, and safety concerns affected both males and females. Male officers were more likely to leave at all career stages, with the impact of job stress and role ambiguity influencing male turnover intent. [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]

In literature on correctional staff, one poorly understood antecedent of job stress and other negative outcomes is perceived danger from the job. Survey results from 272 staff at a state-run Midwestern maximum security prison were analyzed with Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression to determine the relationships between personal/work environment variables and perceptions of job danger. Analyses revealed the effects of the personal variables were conditional on staff position (custody vs. non-custody). Irrespective of position, two of seven work environment variables studied (less input into decision making and more daily contact with prisoners) were related to greater perceived risk of harm from the job. Also, greater organizational formalization was related to greater perceived risk among custodial staff. Perceived danger from the job is a real issue, and the current results indicate workplace factors play a role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correctional research has just begun to explore the effects of variables and their differences over the course of a career within the field. This study examined several correctional staff outcomes and how they varied over three identified career stages (initial, establishment, and maintenance) at a state-government operated prison. Results indicated that job involvement, job satisfaction, affective commitment, moral commitment, and turnover intent were highest during the initial stage of employment, which is contrary to other occupations. Job stress and continuance commitment remained equal across all three career stages. Findings suggest that the effects on career stages are contextual and vary across different types of organizations. Furthermore, the strains and stresses of working in a correctional institution may not be cumulative but remain steady across a career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Despite increased representation in correctional work settings, women still encounter obstacles in this male-dominated occupation—obstacles that have the potential to affect their levels of job stress and job satisfaction. Although gender-based differences in job stress and job satisfaction have been analyzed in several prison settings, much less work has been conducted in the often neglected correctional arena of jails. The current study fills this empirical void by examining jail staff at a large county correctional system in Orlando, Florida. Ordinary least squares regression analysis indicated that different facets of the work environment differentially affected the job stress and job satisfaction of 419 women and 493 men working in a large urban jail system. Specifically, role ambiguity, perceived dangerousness, coworker relations, input into decision making, and administrative support had larger effects on job stress for women compared to men. For job satisfaction, the only workplace variable to have a gendered effect was administrative support, which also had a greater effect for women than men. The findings reveal gender-related differences, especially in terms of job stress. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Even though work–family conflict has been linked to negative outcomes for both correctional facilities and staff, little research has been conducted on how workplace factors may be related to it. This study tested nine hypotheses based on the job demand–resource model. Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis of survey data from 160 staff revealed that while most job demand variables (i.e., the role stressors of role conflict, role overload, and perceived dangerousness) predicted work–family conflict, the same did not hold for job resource variables (i.e., the workplace factors of job autonomy, supervision, job variety, instrumental communication, and integration). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personnel are critical to the success of any security organization, and this is especially true of private prisons. Therefore, it is essential to understand how their organizational commitment is affected by workplace factors. There are two major forms of organizational commitment, continuance and affective. To examine how the salient workplace factors of job stress, job involvement, and job satisfaction were related to the continuance and affective commitment of personnel working for a private prison, data from a survey of personnel at a maximum security private prison were examined. Two ordinary least squares regression equations were run with continuance and affective commitment as the dependent variables. The amount of variance explained between the two regression equations was noticeably different. A larger percentage of the variance was accounted for in the affective commitment regression equation as compared to the continuance commitment multivariate analysis. Moreover, job stress had a positive association with continuance commitment, and a nonsignificant relationship with affective commitment. Job involvement had a nonsignificant effect on continuance commitment and a positive effect on affective commitment. Job satisfaction had a negative impact on continuance commitment and a positive relationship with affective commitment. Overall, the results support the contention that the two commitment measures are not affected similarly by job stress, involvement, and satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relationship of organizational commitment with job burnout in the correctional institution setting. Participants were 272 corrections employees at a maximum security state prison housing approximately 1000 male felony offenders. Participants completed survey instruments measuring the emotional exhaustion dimension of burnout and three primary forms of organizational commitment (affective, moral, and continuance). Results support the study's predictions of a negative relationship between burnout and affective commitment, and a positive relationship between burnout and continuance commitment. No significant relationship was found between moral commitment and emotional burnout. While no personal variables were related to burnout, the three forms of organizational commitment accounted for 22% of the burnout variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the research on correctional staff over the past two decades has focused on how the job environment and demographic variables influence job stress and job satisfaction. The issue of job involvement has largely been ignored. As correctional employees are such an important part of corrections, understanding how job stressors affect job involvement is essential. An analysis of survey data from a private correctional facility in the US Midwest examined the effects of the relationship between the job stressors of role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload, and perceived dangerous of the job with job involvement. Multivariate analysis with ordinary least squares ( OLS) regression indicated that role conflict and dangerousness of the job had significant effects on job involvement, but role ambiguity and role overload did not. It is hoped that this study will spark further research in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the research on correctional officers over the past two decades has focused on job stress, job satisfaction, the job environment and how demographic variables such as gender, race, health and family conflict have influenced stress and job satisfaction. Little attention, however, has been placed on organizational citizenship and its relationship to correctional staff. Using survey data from a private correctional facility in the Midwest, this article examined how the stressors of role conflict, role ambiguity, role overload and perceived dangerousness of the job affected organizational citizenship behaviors. In multivariate analysis, role ambiguity was found to have a significant negative effect on organizational citizenship behaviors, and perceived dangerous of the job had a significant positive effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satisfied correctional officers are important for the successful operation of a prison. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis (HMR) was performed on survey data from 501 non-supervisory correctional officers employed in a Southern prison system. After controlling for factors such as demographic variables, role conflict, job stress, peer support, and supervisory support, correctional officers who perceived inmates as devious were less satisfied with their jobs; however, age and supervisory support positively influenced job satisfaction, whereas job dangerousness and role conflict negatively influenced job satisfaction. Although statistically significant, the association of perceptions of inmates on job satisfaction was small relative to the work environment. The results suggest that correctional administrators need to focus on the work environment, especially supervisory support, to improve correctional staff job satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This exploratory study examined several propositions of person—environment fit theory in an adult midwestern correctional facility oriented toward treatment. Special attention was given to the manner that person—organization fit influenced correctional staff outcomes. Drawing from the need—supply fit framework of person—environment fit theory, the authors predicted that correctional staff whose values and objectives were congruent with those of the institution would experience better outcomes than staff whose values and objectives were not congruent. The results generally supported these propositions. Staff who supported punishment had higher levels of role stress and work—family conflict, had lower levels of life satisfaction and moral commitment, and were more likely to perceive the organization as unfair. Conversely, correctional staff who were supportive of treatment perceived higher levels of integration and had higher moral commitment. These results suggest that efforts to increase value congruence between staff and the institution will improve outcomes among correctional staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the research on correctional officers over the past two decades has focused on job stress, job satisfaction, the job environment, and how demographic variables such as gender, race, health and family conflict influenced stress and job satisfaction. Because correctional staff is such an integral part of corrections, understanding job involvement and its impact on correctional employees is important, yet it has received little attention in the literature. Using survey data from a private correctional facility in the Midwest, the authors examined the effects of job involvement on job stress, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, absenteeism, and turnover intentions. A multivariate analysis indicated that job involvement had significant effects on all the predicted outcome variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined a gendered model of the effects of supervisory factors on job outcomes for both men and women. Two competing hypotheses, the importation-differential experiences model and the work role prisonization model, guided the analyses of the effects of supervisor support, supervisor structure, and supervisor trust on job stress, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment. Data came from surveys of 160 correctional staff employed at a Midwestern prison. The results provide substantial support for the work model and less support for the importation model. Few differences were found in how men and women respond to supervisory factors. The implications of these results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A gendered model of the effects of role stressors on job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment was tested. Ordinary least squares regression analysis of survey data from correctional staff provided partial support for the proposition that men and women perceive and respond to the work environment differently. Work-family conflict was found to influence levels of job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among women but not among men. Conversely, role ambiguity, role overload, and perceived dangerousness influenced levels of job stress for men but not women. Furthermore, levels of role conflict and role ambiguity influenced levels of job satisfaction for men but not for women. These findings lend support to further development of gendered theoretical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correctional organizations need committed, relatively unstressed, and satisfied staff. Thus, it is important to identify and understand the factors that help shape the job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of correctional workers. Past research has shown that many different dimensions of the work environment are important predictors. Yet not all dimensions of the work environment have been examined, including perceptions of organizational innovation. Thus, it is unclear whether and how perceptions of organizational innovation may influence the job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of correctional employees. Using survey data from staff at a Midwestern correctional facility, the effects of perceptions of organizational innovation are studied while controlling for the shared effects of other salient work environment dimensions (i.e., job variety, job autonomy, and perceived dangerousness of the job) and personal characteristics (i.e., gender, age, position, tenure, educational level, and race). In multivariate analyses, perceptions of organizational innovation had a statistically negative association with job stress, whereas it had statistically significant positive associations with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work-family conflict and job burnout are both issues for 272 correctional staff (response rate of 68%). The two major forms of work-family conflict are work-on-family conflict and family-on-work conflict. Multivariate analysis of survey data from 272 correctional staff at a state prison indicated work-on-family conflict had a significant positive relation with job burnout, while family-on-work conflict did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributive and procedural justice, two dimensions of organizational justice, have been found to be salient antecedents of many correctional staff attitudes, such as job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment; however, little correctional research has examined their relationships with the life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent. Multivariate regression equations were estimated to determine the association of personal characteristics, distributive justice, and procedural justice with the life satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intent of correctional employees based on a survey of 160 staff at a private midwestern maximum security institution. Both distributive and procedural justice had a statistically significant inverse association with burnout and turnover intent, while procedural justice had a significant positive relationship with life satisfaction. Additionally, the results indicated that the association of procedural justice was larger than the association for distributive justice. Similar results were obtained using only responses from correctional officers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Working in corrections is not only a demanding job, but a socially important one. While a growing number of studies have examined how the work environment impacts the job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of staff, very few studies have examined how working in corrections impacts the life satisfaction of workers. The current study utilized OLS regression to examine the antecedents of life satisfaction among staff at a Midwestern private prison. Job satisfaction had a positive relationship with life satisfaction, while age, work on family conflict, family on work conflict, and job involvement all had statistically significant negative effects. Finally, perceptions of the level of financial rewards, job stress, organizational commitment, gender, race, educational level, tenure, supervisory status, position, marital status, and having children, all had non-significant associations with overall satisfaction with life. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Correctional staff are the backbone of any correctional organization, and building organizational commitment among employees is critical for an effective organization. Although there is a small but growing body of literature on the antecedents and consequences of organizational commitment, there has been little discussion on the various types and levels of commitment and whether results differ depending on the form of commitment being measured. This study reviewed the three major types (i.e., affective, moral, and continuance) and two levels (i.e., agency and institutional) of organizational commitment. Multivariate analysis of survey results from 272 staff at a high-security prison in the Midwest revealed that the effects of the major forms of organizational structure (i.e., input into decision making, job autonomy, promotional opportunities, institutional communication, and organizational fairness) and job stress varied considerably depending on which form of organizational commitment was measured. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of private correctional facilities has increased rapidly during the past twenty years. While there is a growing body of literature on private correctional facilities, most of the focus has compared the efficiency and effectiveness of private versus public correctional institutions. The impact of the work environment on private prisons has been rarely studied. Staff are the most valuable resource for any correctional organization; hence, it is important to study how the work environment shapes the job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment levels of private prison staff. Two important work environment factors are instrumental communication and integration. This study examined the effects of instrumental communication and integration on the job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment of staff at a Midwestern private correctional facility. Using the survey response of 160 respondents, it was found that both instrumental communication and integration had significant effects on job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Correctional institutions rely on staff to accomplish a variety of tasks and objectives to ensure the safety and security of society. A significant body of research has focused on characteristics and attitudes of correctional staff to uncover positive work outcomes. One area that rarely appears in the correctional literature is organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), which refers to those prosocial work behaviors in which employees engage that reflect extra effort and benefit the organization. This study examined the influence of work environment variables (i.e., organizational commitment, job stress, and job involvement) and individual-level characteristics on OCB. The results indicate that organizational citizenship behavior is affected by both organizational commitment and job stress. Findings are discussed in terms of possible policy implications for correctional organizations as well as the need to examine further the reciprocal nature of the employee/employer relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Correctional staff are the heart and soul of any correctional facility. While there was a significant body of research on the impact of the work environment on correctional staff, this study sought to expand that knowledge by examining the effects of distributive and procedural justice on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. Multivariate models were estimated. Both forms of organizational justice had negative effects on job stress and organizational commitment; however, only procedural justice, but not distributive justice, had a significant impact on job satisfaction. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Working in a correctional institute is often a demanding and stressful job. This study examined the impact of job characteristics and job involvement on correctional staff job stress. Specifically, the effects of supervision, perceived dangerousness of the job, job variety, feedback, role stress, and job involvement were studied, while controlling for the effects of the personal characteristics of gender, educational level, race, age, and tenure. Using Ordinary Least Squared regression, it was observed that gender, age, perceived dangerousness of the job, feedback, role stress, and job involvement had statistically significant effects on correctional staff job stress. Tenure, educational level, race, supervision, and job variety had non-significant effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Work-family conflict (WFC) occurs when the work domain and family domain are incompatible with one another in some manner. A survey of staff at a private Midwestern prison measured four dimensions of WIC: time-based work on family conflict, strain- based work on family conflict, behavior-based WFC and family on work conflict. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression results indicate that strain-based conflict was the only form of WFC to have a significant effect on job stress. Both strain-based conflict and behavior-based conflict had a significant impact on job satisfaction. Finally, time-based conflict, behavior-based and family on work conflict all had significant effects on organizational commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the impact of occupational stressors on correctional staff organizational commitment. Generally, job stress is defined as an employee's feelings of job-related hardness, tension, anxiety and frustration. Thus, it is seen as the outcomes of stressors. According to a study, which studied the causes of job stress concluded that it is still unclear that occupational stressors have an effect on the organizational commitment of correctional workers. Another study that examined the effect of role conflict and other job stressors reported that these stressors are often related negatively to correctional staff job satisfaction.

During the past twenty years, there has been significant growth in the literature on correctional staff. Much of this literature has examined how the work environment helps shape the job satisfaction of correctional employees. Conversely, little empirical attention has been devoted to the broader concept of life satisfaction. The current study attempts to fill this empirical void by examining whether job satisfaction and occupational stressors (in the forms of job stress, work-family conflict, role stress, and perceived dangerous) had any impact on the life satisfaction of correctional staff Based on a multi-variate analysis, we find that job satisfaction, job stress, work-family conflict, and dangerousness had significant effects on life satisfaction. An additional analysis of the effects of life satisfaction revealed a significant relationship to workers' turnover intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]